Eric Adams’ deputy mayor takes swing at Mamdani over tax on second homes

Randy Mastro was among the thousands of wealthy New Yorkers notified that their property may fall under the city’s new pied-à-terre tax.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (CN) — New York City officials on Monday argued against a lawsuit brought by New York homeowners who say they were wrongfully notified that they may owe a surcharge on their high-value properties.The Staten Island-based plaintiffs claim Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration improperly sent them letters saying they “may be subject” to the pied-à-terre tax.Represented by Randy Mastro, a corporate litigator who served as deputy mayor under the scandal-plagued former Mayor Eric Adams, the plaintiffs say this unfairly forces them to prove their homes are in fact primary residences and therefore disqualified from the surcharge on second homes valued at at least $5 million, and second condos and co-ops valued at more than $1 million.Since the case was filed, however, each of the plaintiffs has received word that they are exempt from the regulation.During a hearing that lasted over two hours, Steven Banks, corporation counsel for New York City, argued that the case shouldn’t proceed since the plaintiffs have suffered no harm by being notified in an “iterative process” of their properties’ potential inclusion in the city’s pied-a-terre tax.“It’s a policy dispute dressed up as a case in controversy," Banks said.Banks, a former attorney in chief for the Legal Aid Society, noted that the statute allows homeowners to appeal to the tax commissioner, and said the case wasn’t ripe because it was filed before the city made any final determination.“How can that be a harm, to appeal to the tax commissioner, when that’s explicitly what the statute provides for?” Banks posited.The homeowners say they are not challenging the statute itself, but how it’s being executed, asking the judge to stop the city from acting on the notices it sent out.“We’re here about a botched rollout of unparalleled proportions,” Mastro of the firm Dechert LLP said.Mastro, a vocal Mamdani critic, resigned from his city government post in 2025, telling reporters he “will never work for a socialist.”He has since brought several lawsuits against the Mamdani administration, including one seeking to block an East Village intake shelter and another challenging Mamdani’s rent freeze proposal.Mastro repeatedly called the letters “threatening” on Monday, dubbing them “nastygrams” and saying thousands of New Yorkers “were put through hell — hell — for weeks” because they received the city’s letters.Attorney Randy Mastro speaks outside the Staten Island state courthouse on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Nina Pullano/Courthouse News)He also criticized the city for publishing property data on potential pied-a-terre properties — a roster that included a home owned by New York 13th Judicial District Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi himself.After the judge asked Banks what he expected the public to think about the tax roll publication, the city attorney pointed out that if Ozzi had been harmed by the roll, he’d have a claim in the case.“Confusion or concern does not make that a cognizable legal claim,” Banks said. “We know you’re on that roll. And you don’t have a cognizable legal claim, and therefore nobody else has a cognizable legal claim. And therefore there’s no basis to take the roll down.”Ozzi previously granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order on Aug. 10, three days after the lawsuit was filed. An appeals court vacated that ruling after the city appealed.Lead plaintiff Rachel O’Brien, wife of Republican New York City Councilman Frank Morano, and Carmine Morano, his father, claim they were among the 900,000 homeowners who received notices that their homes were “related to the annual non-primary residence property surcharge.”A third plaintiff, Manhattanite Simon Hedley, got a letter saying his home “may be subject” to the pied-à-terre tax and had to apply for an exemption, along with some 17,000 other New Yorker homeowners.Outside the courthouse, Mastro declined to answer a question from Courthouse News about who is funding the litigation against the surcharge.New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the measure into law in late May as part of the state budget. The citywide surcharge is expected to generate at least $500 million annually, the governor said, helping to close the city’s budget gap and ensure the wealthiest New Yorkers contribute to city services.Mamdani has championed the pied-à-terre policy as part of his broader promise to tax the city’s wealthy to help fund public services like buses and childcare.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads