There’s a new windfall that could help ease Mayor de Blasio’s looming budget crunch.
Thanks to a surge in real estate values — they have increased $60 billion in the past year — the city stands to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in unanticipated property taxes, budget experts said Thursday.
It’s the second piece of good news for the city budget in recent weeks.
The Independent Budget Office reported last month that the city will end the current budget year with a surplus of $2.4 billion, $581 million more than originally forecast.
The extra money could ease the financial pressures faced by de Blasio, including a demand by the city’s unionized workers — who have been toiling for years without contracts — for $7 billion in retroactive pay.
The three City Council Republicans on Thursday said homeowners should receive tax rebates in light of the property tax windfall, but de Blasio shot down that idea.
“It’s obvious that real estate values are increasing all over the city. That’s a good thing for the city. It is a good thing that we’re going to have some additional revenue,” he said.
“But it is simply a small improvement against a huge looming crisis.”
He added, “We have never had all of our labor contracts open simultaneously. When every single labor contract is unresolved, we are in such an unprecedented dynamic that we have to understand that that puts us in a very difficult situation.”
