Mayor To Pay Just $9K In Taxes On Homes Worth $3.6M: Records

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A sneak peek at Mayor Bill de Blasio's anticipated property taxes next year has hizzoner's online critics wondering: "How is it that @NYCMayor only pays $4493.33 on a $1.76 Million dollar Park Slope home, when other NY’ers are taxed through the roof?"

Twitter user @odonnell_r posed this question along with a photo of de Blasio's and his wife Chirlane McCray's notice of property tax for their 11th Street property. The Jan. 15 notice and the amount has been confirmed by Patch through public Department of Finance records.

But it doesn't tell the whole story — a twisty tale of multiple homes and New York City's antiquated tax system that many, including the mayor himself, have criticized as unfair and due for change.

For one, it's not de Blasio's and McCray's only high-dollar Park Slope property on 11th Street — they own a $1.88 million home also with an estimated $4,493.33 in upcoming taxes.

That's about $9,000 in expected taxes on just shy of $4 million worth of property, for the math-averse.

It's not a secret de Blasio and McCray own homes in Park Slope. The houses gained attention in 2017 when one went up for rent to nonsmokers without pets at $1,825 a month, Politico reported.

The homes' taxes at that time about $3,600 each, according to records.

So when the mayor received notices dated Jan. 15, 2020 about his expected upcoming property taxes he actually learned his taxes would go up.

It likely didn't come as a surprise — property values in brownstone-heavy Park Slope have steadily risen. But as the New York Times recently reported the city's tax system has kept the neighborhood's property taxes at relative rock bottom.

A Park Slope brownstone at 104 Prospect Park West listed for sale at $8 million paid only $20,000 in taxes, the same as a $2 million home in The Bronx, the Times reported.

The reason is the city doesn't tax properties on their market value — which for de Blasio's homes is about $4 million — but their assessed value, which hovered around $20,000 for each of de Blasio's home. And crucially the city caps increases on assessed value at 6 percent a year, meaning taxes on homes in expensive areas like Park Slope stay lower longer.

A city commission recently proposed overhauling that tax system and replacing it with one based on market value. De Blasio acknowledged he would pay more in taxes under such a system and called it "fair."

Several Twitter users expressed surprise at de Blasio's taxes.

"I pay 4900 for my home in Staten Island , it’s worth is about 550,000. How does he do it," wrote @Joeyjoe15090312.

"I pay double that on an attached house in queens. Doubled since this fool took office. This has to change and fast," wrote @Onivasa316.

When asked about de Blasio's upcoming taxes, his office directed Patch to previous comments and didn’t respond to requests relating to the specific amount he pays.