Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams advanced measures included in his COVID-19 Response and Recovery Agenda with the City Council today, as the Council passed one critical piece of legislation and the Public Advocate introduced three additional bills aimed at addressed the public health and economic impacts of the pandemic in both the immediate and long term. Each of these measures were proposed in the Public Advocate's Response and Recovery Plan released in early April.
At its Stated Meeting on Thursday afternoon, the New York City Council unanimously passed legislation from the Public Advocate to defer the property tax liabilities on certain residential property owners impacted by COVID-19. The bill, Intro 1974-A, would require the city's Department of Finance to offer agreements to defer real property tax liability otherwise due and payable as of July 1, 2020, until October 1, 2020. It will provide a significant tax relief for property owners, and will apply to 99% of Class 1 homes, including 87% of Condos.
It also provides that if property owners are unable to make their payment by October, they can apply for the City's Property Tax Aid Program, which provides an installment agreement.
"The compounding crises of public health and economic disaster place an extraordinary burden on New Yorkers, and as this pandemic impacts nearly all areas of life, our response must be as comprehensive, providing a response to and recovery from both the direct impacts of COVID-19 and the systemic inequities it exposed and exacerbated," said Public Advocate Williams. "In providing urgent property tax relief today, and in moving quickly to support small business owners with loans, we can begin to help alleviate the financial devastation the pandemic has brought to many New Yorkers. While timely, immediate response is needed as we move through recovery, it's critical to explore all options to lessen the burden on New Yorkers who were already struggling before this virus, while addressing the revenue deficit with a balanced approach that will have a lasting impact on our city. I thank the Speaker for seeing the need to urgently pass this bill and my colleagues for supporting it today."
The Public Advocate added, "Through the racial disparity recovery task force, we can address underlying failures that have made this crisis worse in communities of color. Through the state of emergency task force, we can ensure the same fatal errors are not made again."
The Public Advocate also introduced new legislation today to provide interest-free loans to small businesses, non-profits, and freelance workers impacted by the pandemic or other emergencies. Specifically, Intro 1990 would require the Department of Small Business Services to create an interest-free loan program for small businesses, non-profit organizations and freelance workers forced to close or operate at reduced capacity due to the impacts of a natural disaster, state of emergency or other emergency circumstances. Qualifying small businesses would be able to use these loans for operating expenses such as rent, payroll, insurance, equipment, and inventory costs.
In order to further guide the response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Advocate also proposed legislation creating independent task forces to oversee and take action to alleviate this crisis and prevent future ones. Intro 1988 would establish a task force stemming from the racial disparities in COVID-19 impact, which study racial disparities in exposure to infectious disease and related testing, treatment and outcomes citywide, and to make recommendations for legislation and policy to mitigate and eliminate such disparities. This group would rapidly implement an action plan in real time to mitigate racial disparities in COVID-19 exposure, testing, access to resources, and fatalities.
The State of Emergency response and recovery task force, created under Intro 1987, is designed not only to oversee elements of the recovery from COVID-19, but to prevent the failures seen in responding to this crisis from happening in the future. It would be responsible for reviewing each City agency's emergency plan, holding a public hearing, and issuing an annual report with recommendations should any concerns be identified.
The Office of the Public Advocate's Preliminary Response and Recovery Report, first issued on April 1, 2020, is a highlights how the city could have acted more swiftly in responding to the pandemic while outlining ways to move forward to better protect lives and mitigate the impact of future crises across a wide range of issue areas. It has since been expanded to address additional systemic inequities, and can be read in its entirety here.
Back to press reports