The city will take a whopping $200 million hit in property taxes this year because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The massive drop in the World Trade Center’s value is responsible for more than a third of the loss – $70 million – figures issued by the city’s Department of Finance show.
The rest is caused by a decline in the market value of other Lower Manhattan properties and by the city’s decision to reduce the value of big Manhattan hotels by 19 percent and parking lots by 9 percent because of reduced tourism.
The city’s tourism director, Cristyne Nicholas, said the cuts are “good news because it can save some jobs.”
“We’re very pleased the city recognized the hotel business has been suffering,” she said.
The whopping property tax loss was revealed by an analysis of the tax rolls issued by the Finance Department for the 2003 fiscal year, which starts in July.
On last year’s rolls, the World Trade Center had a market value of $2.4 billion. Its assessed value – 45 percent of the market value – was $927 million. And its tax bill – just under 10 percent of the assessed value – was $90 million. That bill remains unpaid.
On the new rolls, the city lists only the land value of the WTC – $485 million. This yields an assessed value of $200.3 million and a tax bill of $20 million.
That’s a tax loss of $70 million.
A reduction in the market value of other Lower Manhattan buildings will reduce tax coffers by $55 million.
So will the decision to cut the market value of major Manhattan hotels by 19 percent because of loss of income.
Last year, hotels were valued at $8.43 billion. This year, they’re valued at $7.2 billion, a loss of $1.23 billion. That translates into a tax loss of $55 million.
Cuts in parking-lot valuation should yield a loss of $20 million.
The total: $200 million.
Despite the tax loss, there is a silver lining. The total taxable value of city buildings grew by 6.4 percent, down just 1 percent from last year’s 7.4 percent, the highest in 10 years.
Here are some downtown buildings that will pay less in taxes:
22 Cortlandt St., the location of the Century 21 store, had a market value of $73.1 million and an assessed value of $24.7 million, and paid taxes of $2.41 million last year. The building, which hasn’t reopened, now has a market value of $52 million and an assessed value of $2.285 million, and will pay $2.283 million in taxes. The city will lose $125,000 in tax dollars.
130 Liberty St., the Bankers Trust building, which needs major renovation, had a value of $178.3 million and paid $7.51 million in taxes last year. It now has a value of $70 million and will pay $3.07 million in taxes, a loss to the city of $4.44 million.
101 Barclay, the Bank of New York Building, which is undergoing extensive renovation, was valued at $141.1 million and paid taxes of $6.03 million last year. This year, it’s valued at only $104 million and will pay $4.76 million. The city will lose $1.27 million.
