City Comptroller John Liu plans to audit this year’s property-tax rolls to determine why the values of some co-ops and condos suddenly shot up by as much as 147 percent, putting homeowners at risk of huge tax hikes, The Post has learned.
Liu sent a “letter of engagement” last week to Finance Commissioner David Frankel, informing him to expect a visit by the comptroller’s auditors, sources said.
The action comes amid a months-long outcry by middle-class co-op owners in northeast Queens over higher assessments that, in some cases, would result in jolting tax increases of 30 percent or more.
In the face of the revolt, Frankel decided last month to cap market-value increases at 50 percent, which had the effect of limiting assessments and tax hikes alike to generally no more than 10 percent.
At a meeting with about 75 co-op owners Wednesday night in Queens Borough Hall, Frankel was adamant that his assessors didn’t set out to squeeze out extra taxes for the city.
“We do not consider revenue implications when we value properties,” Frankel declared three times at the meeting.
Under state law, the department has to value co-ops as if they are income-producing rentals.
Frankel didn’t dispute that the market for Queens co-ops was down over the past three to four years. In fact, he provided the exact amount of the decline: 3.5 percent.
“That fact, quite bluntly, is irrelevant under state law,” he told the audience.