The taxman cometh. Lo, and he bringeth a digital camera....
The other day I was in front of my house sanding down a board to be used in a bookcase project. At some point I looked up to find a guy standing there, looking at me. “Hi!” I said. And he said “hi!” right back and that he was visiting from the NYC Department of Finance (indicating to a little badge/card hanging from his neck). “Have you done any work in this building recently?” he asked. “Uhh” — there I am standing with a dust mask on — “no! I mean, we did do some work after we bought the place four years ago, but we filed for everything, and in fact DoB gave us a C of O.” The guy then asks, did you do a lot of work? And at this point, I’m kind of panicking. What does he want and why is he asking me this shit? We did everything legally and we filed all of our plans. So I just said, “Not a lot of work — I mean, we filed everything with the city. You can look it all up. By the way, what is this all about?” To which he replied that he was a tax assessor recently assigned to this area of Brooklyn. The then took a photo with his digital camera and said, “okay, bye!” —- I managed to say after him, “hey, are my taxes going up?” He was non-committal (“maybe — we’ll see”) and then, to my great surprise, he walked across the street to his official car and drove off. My great surprise because it seems that he drove from wherever tax assessors drive from _just_ to look at my place — initially, I was sanding and I didn’t even notice him. But then when he was taking his little picture I figured he was doing every house on the block. In the end, of course, it seems that the iceman cometh and that he cometh just for me. Sorry about the long-winded post, but my question is short: does anyone know what the hell is going on? And (an existential cry in the dark): why me? Thanks!
dnk
in Taxes 11 years and 8 months ago
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6 replies
catbk | 11 years and 8 months ago
Er. Standard brownstone? I think many of the “standard ones” ARE 1 family. Mine’s a 3 family, and I’m pretty sure my tax rate is different. If you changed yours to a 2 family, the tax rate might change too. Maybe that’s why the guy came around?
dnk | 11 years and 8 months ago
James, Very helpful, thanks — I guess I did sign an affidavit but of course I have no recollection. I am trained as any modern poodle to just sign whatever papers are put in front of me at doctors’ offices, banks, expeditor’s office, etc. without ever reading or paying attention! Caveat signator: let the signer beware! Greenmountain, good questions. My own renovation was driven by the goal to create a tenant’s apartment and to get a C of O (for some reason, DoB had classified my house as a legal 1 family when I moved in, even though it is a fairly standard brownstone), so I needed to get the bulk of the renovation done right away (along with plumbing and electric) but I wonder if my tax burden would have been lessened if I did it in stages.
greenmountain | 11 years and 8 months ago
There was a much-commented-on recent post about a carefully planned renovation in stages. Permits are not required for everything, and an honest cost for a kitchen or a bathroom renovation or moving a single wall, might not raise the taxes as much as doing all the work at the same time. On the other hand, the overall cost of doing a whole house renovation in stages might be more over a longer period of time. Does any body have any experience with tax increases after smaller jobs? Do they occur? Are they proportional?
jcarch | 11 years and 8 months ago
It wasn’t a coincidence that he stopped by your building. DOF looks at DOB filings, and takes a look at buildings that have undergone renovations to see if they should now be re-assessed at a higher rate. When you filed your work, you signed an affidavit when you filed stating what the project cost were…and you signed another one after the work was done stating that the original number was accurate (or revising the number). In the old days, everyone radically low balled the costs. But in the last few year DOB’s stopped that. You can still get away with calling a high end reno a budget reno, but you can’t say you’re spending $50K to gut a brownstone anymore…they’ll just reject your application if they feel your costs are too low. So they’ll use your own affidavit to figure out how much you put into the house, and unfortunately, the answer to “are my taxes going up” is almost definitely yes. jcarch ———————— James Cleary Architecture brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/jamescleary
dnk | 11 years and 8 months ago
Steve, Thanks for your reply. And something you said reminds me, he actually asked if we did facade work. (We did not). I really would love to know why he came only to my house. Was he just driving by and saw someone sanding a board (“improving” his house!?)? Or did he come by because we filed for work several years back with DoB? And what kind of empirical method would he apply to my tax assessment? Like how would he know whether we had a high-end interior reno or (closer to the truth) a middle-of-the road affair that isn’t yet fully complete because we ran out of money? Was the picture he took part of the assessment or just some meaningless “there is a house there” photo to be filed away? It is all so weird.
thetinkerswagon | 11 years and 8 months ago
I have wondered about just what you are speaking of. after watching a few things with my assessment over the years, I have begun to realize that they do not assess every same size and style house on the street the same, but they take into account upgrades. where I grew up, those upgrades would simply include a pool or fireplace. but here, I think simple modernization or new windows or a new facade – some things which we may think of as maintenance – add to the value of the assessment. that is what I have begun to think. also, there was an article in the times a few years back about people buying gutted buildings in harlem and renovating them only to watch the taxes increase like 4 or 5 fold or more. sort of unbelievable. Steve