SCRIE Information for Owners Now Available On-Line

The City’s Department of Finance (DOF) has had numerous problems with the administration of SCRIE since they took over responsibility for the program from the Department of the Aging in 2009. The problems include delays in the processing of new and renewal applications, the failure to provide any reports on an owner’s SCRIE tax abatement (called a “TAC Report”) unless requested by the owner, and the failure to provide a phone number for owners to call. The only way owners could communicate with DOF was by calling 311.

One of the most egregious problems was a “computer glitch” earlier this year, which resulted in thousands of owners not receiving proper credits on their tax bills because the SCRIE credits to which they were not entitled were not properly calculated by DOF.

In September, due to pressure from RSA, as well as tenant advocacy groups, the City Council held a hearing on problems with DOF’s administration of the SCRIE program. A further hearing on this subject was also recently held by the State Assembly’s Housing Committee. Both before and since these hearings, RSA has been working together with DOF to improve the flow of SCRIE information to owners.

As a result, DOF has generated two new SCRIE reports which were posted on DOF’s web site on December 1. The first is a new TAC report. The TAC report shows tax credit and debits posted during a given period. The second is a called a “tenant report.” The tenant report shows status and benefit information for current and recent SCRIE tenants. According to DOF, the TAC reports will be updated on a monthly basis and the tenant reports will be updated on a weekly basis.

Links to the SCRIE reports are available on RSA’s website. Buildings are identified by borough, block and lot information (BBL) and SCRIE docket numbers are used to identify the SCRIE tenants. Owners who have tenants on SCRIE were notified of the docket number in the initial approval letter. For privacy reasons, tenant names and apartment numbers are not posted on-line. Owners can use the two reports along with their own tenant files to reconcile their tenant accounts.

DOF has also included an e-mail address for owners to contact the agency if they have questions or problems with their reports: SCRIE@finance.nyc.gov

Click on this link to view the SCRIE reports.