New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams sent a letter to Mayor Eric Adams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Preston Niblack, commissioner of the Department of Finance, on Saturday, Aug. 13, indicating that, in accordance with Section 1518 of the City Charter and in light of the ongoing court battle over the Department of Education (DOE) budget, he will not be signing the FY202 property tax warrant at this time.

According to a press release dated Friday, Aug. 12, the public advocate wrote that according to the recent State Supreme court ruling in Williams v. The City of New York, the City administration had, in the past, been out of compliance with the City Charter through filing improperly executed warrants without the public advocate’s signature. He added that the public advocate has a responsibility to “investigate and otherwise attempt to resolve” public complaints in this regard.

On Monday, Aug. 15, Jonah Allon, deputy press secretary at the Office of the Mayor, said of the situation, “The Court ruled that the City must get the public advocate’s signatures for the property tax warrants, but the public advocate cannot withhold his signature due to a disagreement with the duly adopted budget.”

Meanwhile, Williams also wrote in his press release on Friday, “My office has received and continues to receive public complaints from New Yorkers voicing their concerns and objections to the FY23 education budget cuts, including complaints about the administration’s failure to meet with the panel for education policy prior to submitting the FY23 education budget for council adoption.”

“As the public advocate for the City of New York, I am charged with the duty of investigating these complaints, and following the constantly developing formal and informal attempts to resolve the FY23 education budget cuts matter,” Williams wrote in the letter.

He continued, “While I can reassure you of my commitment to work efficiently to resolve these issues, including signing the FY 23 tax warrant, my obligations pursuant to Section 1518 of the New York City Charter to sign the property tax warrant submitted on June 13, 2022 must not jeopardize my responsibilities under Section 24 of the New York City Charter to properly ‘investigate and otherwise attempt to resolve’ complaints made by the public with regards to the adopted budget and appurtenant tax warrants.”

Meanwhile, the collection of property taxes by the City is linked to its annual budget process. As explained by the City’s finance commissioner in March 2022, as part of the City Council Budget and Oversight Hearing on the FY 2023 Preliminary Budget, “The Department of Finance is responsible for collecting more than $44 billion annually in property taxes, business taxes, fines, and other charges.”

Niblack continued, “Before collecting property tax revenues, the Department of Finance must first value over one million properties worth a total of nearly $1.4 trillion. Each year, we release a tentative assessment property roll which values properties based on their status and condition as of January 5 of each year—a date referred to as the ‘taxable status date.'”

The public advocate is among those City officials who must sign off on the final details before the property tax warrant process can move forward. A tax warrant is equivalent to a civil judgment against a property owner, and protects New York State’s interests and priority in the collection of outstanding tax debt, according to the City’s finance department. The City files a tax warrant with the appropriate New York State county clerk’s office and the New York State Department of State, and it becomes a public record. A filed tax warrant creates a lien against real and personal property, and may:

• allow the government to seize and sell real and personal property,
• allow the government to garnish wages or other income,
• affect the government the ability to buy or sell a person’s property, or
• affect a property owner’s ability to obtain credit.

Residents can search for a tax warrant using the New York State Tax Warrants search tool.

Meanwhile, the full text of the letter send by the public advocate to the Adams administration is pasted below, and can be download here.

“RE: Fiscal Year 2023 Property Tax Warrant

Dear Mayor Adams, Speaker Adams, and Commissioner Nisblack:

On August 10, 2022, I signed and returned the tax warrants for FY21 and FY22. However, pursuant to my obligations under Section 24 of the New York City Charter, I am unable to sign the FY23 tax warrant at this time due to ongoing reviews of constituent complaints concerning the FY23 adopted budget.

My office has received and continues to receive public complaints from New Yorkers voicing their concerns and objections to the FY23 education budget cuts, including complaints about the Administration’s failure to meet with the Panel for Education Policy prior to submitting the FY23 education budget for Council adoption. As the Public Advocate for the City of New York, I am charged with the duty of investigating these complaints and following the constantly developing formal and informal attempts to resolve the FY23 education budget cuts matter.

While I can reassure you of my commitment to work efficiently to resolve these issues, including signing the FY 23 tax warrant, my obligations pursuant to Section 1518 of the New York City Charter to sign the property tax warrant submitted on June 13, 2022 must not jeopardize my responsibilities under Section 24 of the New York City Charter to properly “investigate and otherwise attempt to resolve” complaints made by the public with regards to the adopted budget and appurtenant tax warrants. (Charter of the City of New York §24(f)(4)).

To that end, as the Court made clear in its recent decision NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams v. City of New York, Index # 152366/2021, you are prohibited from filing the tax warrant without my signature pursuant to Section 1518.

I would like to set up a meeting with you at your very earliest convenience, mindful of time being of the essence with regards to these issues so that these complaints can be resolved and I can sign the FY23 property tax warrant.

I thank you in advance and ask that you contact First Deputy Public Advocate Nick E. Smith, at nsmith@advocate.nyc.gov, to discuss and arrange this. I look forward to discussing these matters and to working together to address the needs of all of our constituents.

Sincerely,

Jumaane D. Williams

Public Advocate for the City of New York”

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