Mayor Zohran Mamdani is moving to keep his second home surcharge rollout on track after a Staten Island judge ordered the city to scrap the initial implementation and start from scratch. The Mamdani administration quickly appealed the ruling and secured a stay from the appellate court, allowing the rollout to continue while the legal battle plays out. The city’s Department of Finance issued a last-minute extension last week, giving homeowners a new deadline to submit applications to exempt themselves from the surcharge, which is set to expire Tuesday.
Legal arguments focus on the supplemental tax roll
The appeal challenges the ruling by Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi. The administration argues that the data included in the supplemental roll already appeared on public property tax assessment rolls and that the homeowners who brought the suit were not ultimately deemed eligible by the DOF, meaning they suffered no harm. The administration stated that the property list and letters were not final agency determinations, which meant the suit lacked standing to challenge them in the first place.
According to the appeal brief, the court acknowledged the data appeared on public rolls but held that “public fanfare” about the supplemental roll “increased [petitioners’] exposure to harassment and other unwanted intrusions” despite no harassment or intrusion being alleged. The administration cited the Court of Appeals, noting that assessment rolls have legal effect and that invalidating them could cause “fiscal chaos.” The city argues that Ozzi’s demand to republish a roll containing only properties actually subject to the surcharge would wrongly deny homeowners the right to push back on that determination.
Scope of the tax and ongoing litigation
The second home surcharge applies to one-, two-, and three-family homes valued at more than $5 million, as well as condos and co-op units with assessed values of $1 million or more. The underlying case focuses on a supplemental tax roll published by the DOF, which featured more than 900,000 properties and more than 17,000 letters sent to homeowners notifying them they may be subject to the surcharge.
Former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who brought the case on behalf of primary resident homeowners, dubbed the letters “nasty-grams.” The city argues that canceling the previously issued notices would have harmful consequences on thousands of homeowners who already responded to seek exemptions. This case is not the only legal hurdle facing the tax. The state is also facing two separate suits challenging the surcharge on constitutional grounds.
The property was sold for $47.5 million in 2025 to MCB Real Estate and Osiris Ventures, who plan to transform the site into a 95,000-square-foot retail development, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
