Even though the city's Department of Finance apologized, Queens co-op owners are still furious that a DOF computer error caused their property values to rise as much as 147%. (Higher property values mean higher property taxes.) The DOF says it'll cap the increases to 50%, but residents think that's BS: Sherry Davis, who lives in Douglaston, told the NY Times, "How it is possible that the values of our properties can go up by more than 100 percent during one of the biggest real estate declines in a generation? This is the last affordable part of New York City — this isn’t Chelsea or the Upper East Side for goodness’ sake — and we risk being priced out of our own neighborhood."
Deirdre Ruiz, Davis's neighbor, "said the property assessment increase was an assault by the Bloomberg administration on the middle class. If the last bastion of affordable housing in Queens was taken away, she warned, 'we will see the continued flight of middle-class people from New York City.'" Keep in mind, when Queens residents first complained about the insane property re-assessment, Bloomberg chalked up the 50-100% increases to that fact that the properties hadn't been assessed in a while (why look into a possible technical error?!?). The whole matter has some people up in arms, calling it not just an error but a city scandal.
State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, whose Whitestone home's value increased by 147%, scoffed at the city's 50% cap, "The city cutting its assessed values of co-ops from 147 percent to 50 percent is like saying you don’t have to be killed by firing squad, we will use the electric chair instead. Either way, you are dead."
