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Mayor De Blasio Approves Property Tax Relief for Sandy Victims

By Nicholas Rizzi | April 30, 2015 8:08am
 Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a new bill that will provide property tax reliefs for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a new bill that will provide property tax reliefs for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
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NYC Build It Back

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a new bill Tuesday that will provide property tax relief for Hurricane Sandy victims.

The bill, sponsored by Councilman Vincent Ignizio, will spare residents a property tax hike after they finish rebuilding their home destroyed in the storm.

"When I identified a quirk in the property tax law which would have imposed a 'Sandy tax' on the very people we were trying to help recover, I pledged to work with the mayor's office and colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in all legislative houses to fix it," Ignizio said in a statement. 

"Today is the culmination of that great partnership and will usher in sorely needed relief now and well into the future for thousands of families and businesses that were devastated by Sandy."

Under the current tax law, rebuilding a home would increase a property's assessed value since repairs of homes are categorized as improvements.

The new bill lets the city limit increases to the assessed value after repairs so it won't climb any higher than what it would've been if Sandy hadn't occurred, the Staten Island Advance first reported.

The bill needs to be signed by state lawmakers before it becomes a law and will take effect in 2016, according to the legislation. It will cover repairs and assessments until 2020.