Was Safe Streets tax $ used to plug budget?

Real Estate Weekly, Feb 9, 1994 by Lois Weiss

Despite warnings from the Real Estate Board of New York published in REW on April 1, 1992 - that no one apparently took seriously, - the City Council has now realized that the Dinkins administration may not have used Safe Streets, Safe City money for hiring all the police officers it said it would at the times it said it would.

Unfortunately, some auditors think the money has gone to pay other city bills, and owners who believed they were paying the add-on property tax strictly for more police protection will have to kiss those dollars goodbye.

"It's been spent," bemoaned Steven Spinola, president of REBNY. "We looked at the possibility of a law suit, but could not proceed because of the loose terms of the memo of understanding between the administration and the legislature," he explained.

Apparently, the dedication of the real estate dollars was made just on the word of city officials. "It's the income tax surcharge that is tied to the memo," added Spinola.

Right now, he says, the only way to eliminate the real estate surcharge would be for the City Council to do so.

A City Council spokesperson said a panel of three deputy commissioners from the Department of Investigations will be looking into the matter. "Nobody from our end is saying the money was used for other things," insisted Maronke Oshean. "We're not suggesting there has been fraudulent use of the Safe Streets money and for community policing."

A former city official noted the panel has to figure out where the police personnel have been located in terms of patrol strength. "What the Council realized was that they had heads, but not on the streets, and there was a failure of civilianization.

Meanwhile, in spite of the apparent police shell game, Spinola has not given up on the tax as a way to ensure a secure city. He believes the city administration is at a point where the real estate proceeds can go not only to providing the full allotment of police, but to providing additional school security.

The original money pledged for protection, he noted, was actually used by the Board of Education to close its own budget gap and not for metal detectors or enhanced security.

The six-year program was approved by the legislature for property tax bills starting in January of 1991 and now produces about $185 million annually just from real estate. More money for the Safe Streets program is being raised through other methods.