Senate Bill S644

                                BILL NUMBER:S644

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the real property tax law, in relation to the income level
for the applicability of the senior citizens' rent increase exemption

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Reduces from one-third to one-fourth
of income the applicability of the senior citizen's rent
increase exemption.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Subdivision 2 and subparagraph 3 of
paragraph d of subdivision 3 of section 467-b of the real property
tax law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 747 of the laws of 1985
and subparagraph 3 of paragraph d of subdivision 3 as amended by
section 1 of chapter 188 of the laws of 2005 are amended.. One of the
criteria that must be met in order to be eligible for the senior
citizen's rent increase exemption (SCRIE) deals with household
income. At least one-third of a senior's income must be used for
rent in order to be eligible for SCRIE. This criteria would be
lowered to include seniors who pay at least one-fourth of their
income for rent.

JUSTIFICATION:
              

SCRIE was established in 1979 to allow senior citizens
an exemption from rent increases if specific criteria are met They
must reside in rent controlled, rent stabilized or Mitchell-Lama
housing, be at least 62 years of age, have household incomes of no
more than $29,000 (as of July 1, 2009 per NYC DHCR fact sheet) and
pay at least one-third of their income for rent. The problem lies in
the requirement that one-third of household income be used for rent.
Many seniors do not meet that requirement and are subject to high
rents and rent increases. This bill will lower the requirement to
one-fourth and allow more seniors to become eligible for SCRIE.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This legislation was previously introduced.

FISCAL IMPLICATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
A fiscal note
received on May 4, 2009 from the State of New York, Executive
Department, Office of Real Property Services states:

The SCRIE program is currently active in New York City, six
municipalities in Nassau County, and thirteen municipalities in
Westchester County. The estimated fiscal impact of the proposed
legislation is based primarily from data obtained from the 2008 New
York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, as well as from the city's
annual Report of Tax Expenditure.
Comparable data are not available from other municipalities.

It is estimated that an additional 7,000 households in New York City
could become eligible for SCRIE if the proposed legislation becomes
law.


According to the City's Office of Management and Budget, when these
benefits are fully phased in over an estimated 20 year period (the
life expectancy of the newly eligible senior head of household),
SCRIE payments to landlords by
the City of New York would increase by approximately $50 million as a
result of this program change.

It is not possible to estimate the impact of this program change for
the other affected municipalities, but it would have similar effects,
in that tenants having comparatively low based rents would qualify
for the SCRIE program, with corresponding abatement of taxes by the
effected municipalities to the affected landlords.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided that
the amendments made to section 467-b of the real property tax law by
section one of this act shall not affect the expiration of and shall
expire therewith.