'Do it over again and do it right': Judge rules that Mamdani admin must redo pied-à-terre tax rollout

NEW YORK - A Staten Island judge has ruled that Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration mishandled the rollout of the much-debated pied-à-terre tax.

Pied-à-terre rollout must be redone

What we know:

A group of homeowners sued the Mamdani administration over the rollout of the pied-à-terre tax, saying they had been "irreparably harmed" by the process.

The Staten Island judge ruled in favor of the homeowners, saying that the administration caused "mass confusion" when it sent out notices to homeowners who could be subjected to the tax.

Spokesperson for the mayor, Matt Rauschenbach, provided this statement to FOX 5 NY's political reporter Morgan McKay:

"Today’s decision is wrong, and we will invoke a stay of the injunction. With a stay, we will continue implementing the surcharge fairly, efficiently and in full compliance with the law, as we have since day one.

"New York is a city for the many — not a tax haven for the wealthy few."

Former First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who represented the homeowners, called the rollout "botched."

The mayor's administration must not only redo the rollout, but it must also take down a website that included an online list of properties that could be subjected to the new tax, which included the names of the properties' owners.

Mastro provided a full statement to FOX 5 NY:

"Now the administration must go back and do what it should have done from the start: use all the information at its disposal to make an individualized ‘initial determination’ about who truly owes this surcharge before demanding that they pay it.

It’s a shame that it took a lawsuit to get this administration to do the right thing. In short, City Hall botched this rollout and should have just admitted error and fixed its own mistake, instead of wasting time and taxpayer dollars by fighting it in court. But now, thanks to this decision, it will have to do it right by the New Yorkers it has wronged."

The entire ruling can be read below:

The backstory:

This newly established pied-à-terre tax has been the source of much confusion since its announcement months ago.

When asked if he regretted how his team rolled out the new tax, Mamdani had this to say:

"First and foremost, I understand the concerns New Yorkers have, especially when it comes to a new tax, and as we know that new taxes typically present more questions than they do answers. Now, when it comes to the property tax roll and the 'you may be subject to' letters, I do also want to state that there has been both a willful and an unintentional conflation of both the property tax roll and these letters."

Zohran MamdaniPolitics