Chinatown property owners with Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund attorney Bethany Li and communications coordinator Ujala Sehgal held a press conference today
to Protest Thousands in Illegal "BID" Fees Charged by Department of Finance
On March 20, 2012, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), the Property Tax Payers' Association, and small property owners in Chinatown held a press conference to protest the illegal and excessive fees that the New York City Department of Finance has charged small property owners in Chinatown.
Last year, the City Council voted to require property owners in Chinatown to pay additional fees by creating a Business Improvement District (BID), despite vigorous protests from property owners that the BID fees would put them out of business and lead to increased gentrification of their community.
Now that the Chinatown BID is in place, the Department of Finance has charged the same property owners fees for being within BID boundaries for months before the BID even existed. Property owners were charged fees on their property tax statements for the full fiscal year of 2011-2012, even though the Chinatown BID did not exist until January 31, 2012.
"Chinatown property owners should not be retroactively charged a period of time for an entity that did not even exist until just a month and a half ago. The Department of Finance must take immediate corrective action," said Bethany Li of AALDEF, which is representing the Property Tax Payers Association, a group formed to protect the rights of small property owners in Chinatown.
"Hundreds of property owners objected to the BID and now the City is charging us for something we didn't want, for a period before the BID even existed." said Jan Lee, a property owner in Chinatown.
AALDEF is prepared to file a lawsuit if the Department of Finance does not correct the unlawful assessment for the Chinatown BID.
To see the Sinovision story click here
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