Mary Ann Rothman testifies on co-op collection burden and direct payment proposal
Mary Ann Rothman of the Council of NY Cooperatives and Condominiums explains that the law makes co-ops responsible for collecting and remitting the surcharge, a major departure from past practice. She urges DOF to collect directly from non-resident shareholders instead.
Good afternoon, Chair Lee and Chair Brewer, and thank you for holding this important hearing.
My name's Mary Ann Rothman, and I'm the Executive Director of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, a not-for-profit membership organization that's been providing information, education, and advocacy
to and for housing cooperatives and condominiums since 1975.
The state legislation that created the Pietater tax surcharge made cooperatives responsible for collecting and remitting to the Department of Finance
the surcharge due from shareholders.
This is a huge departure from past practices where DOF has provided documentation to enable cooperatives to distribute credit to shareholders who qualify for exemptions and abatements.
Never before have cooperatives had to collect funds and remit them to DOF.
Any cooperative unable to collect from a shareholder in time for the January 1st, 2027 payment
will need to invade reserves or assess shareholders or borrow funds to keep the building's property taxes current.
The smaller the building, the larger the portion of the non-residents owners'piet a terre tax that each resident shareholder will have to find a way to pay.
Where is the justice in jeopardizing the financial stability of a cooperative in this way?
Instead, the Department of Finance should collect the Pieta Terre tax directly from each affected non-resident shareholder.
DOF is already in communication with them by letter.
And there's the precedent, parking tickets, et cetera, for the department to collect payment directly from individuals.
Our organization is seeking Senate and Assembly sponsors for legislation to amend the Pieta-Ter tax to have the surcharge remitted directly to the Department of Finance.
We hope that the City Council will support this practical and reasonable goal.
Thank you.
Oh, you pushed that, okay.