Some condo owners who were not getting the same tax breaks as other owners in their very own complex are now breathing a sigh of relief.
Residents of one and a half of four sections of Harbor Pointe at Shore Haven Condominiums in Soundview were being short changed under the state’s 421-a tax abatement program, which provides tax relief to homeowners.
Now Senator Jeff Klein and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo have championed a provision included in the 2014-15 New York State budget that will extend the tax break to all of the homeowners at Harbour Pointe.
“I am very pleased that all the Harbour Pointe condo owners, many of them first time homeowners, will now be covered under the 421-a tax benefits,” said Klein. “For too long, residents in condos three and four have owned units similar to their neighbors in condos one and two, but have not qualified for this critical tax abatement due to issues totally outside of their control.”
Klein noted that a 421-a designation can lead to “grossly different property values and resale prices, negatively impacting those who are not covered.”
According to sources, there are about roughly 16,000 units in the Bronx that fall under the 421-a tax program, a way for working families to maintain ownership of property they might not otherwise afford.
Qualification rules were tightened after the first sections of the condo were built, but Crespo had said that the designation for the 421-a tax abatement “was literally in print in the original filings permits, and for the description of the project itself when it was built.”
“Today, 204 working families will finally see justice through passage of this provision in the State Budget,” said Crespo. “The development of these homes in the Soundview section of the Bronx was from its first plans intended to provide homeownership opportunities to working class families and through the abatement, expand the number of families who could afford the investment.”
Crespo thanked Councilwoman Annabel Palma and Condo 3 president Barbara Moye among others for their crucial support.
“The residents of Condo 3 and part of Condo 4 will receive the tax relief they deserved long ago, and the program will serve the hard working families it was truly created to assist,” said Crespo.
Moye said some of the families have been in the development for as long six years, all the while paying more property tax than many of their neighbors.
“This will finally bring relief,” she said, adding that “with this victory for Shore Haven, Senator Klein and Assemblyman Crespo are undoubtedly part of the Harbour Pointe family.”
