NY Dems want to end Madison Square Garden’s property tax exemption (EXCLUSIVE)

ALBANY — The clock may be ticking on Madison Square Garden’s sweetheart property tax exemption.

Senate Democrats are including a measure in their budget proposal that would rescind the longstanding tax abatement MSG owner James Dolan has enjoyed for more than four decades, a source familiar with the proposal told the Daily News on Monday.

The move comes amid backlash against the controversial use of facial-recognition technology at the Garden and other sites owned by Dolan.

The billionaire was granted an exemption on property taxes when he bought the famed home of the Knicks and the Rangers in 1980.

But amid ongoing public spats and legal battles over banning critics and the arena’s liquor license, Dems are eyeing an end to the exemption that saves Dolan roughly $43 million a year.

The measure to be included in the Senate one-house budget blueprint would repeal Madison Square Garden’s tax exempt status and send all future revenues generated from property taxes to the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority, according to bill language shared with The News.

The inclusion of the repealer in the Senate budget proposal is no guarantee it will make it into the state’s final spending plan, which is due by April 1. Legislative leaders from both the Senate and Assembly must hammer out a deal with Gov. Hochul over the next few weeks.

While Dolan has butted heads with several Dems in recent months over his barring of critics from the venue, he and his family are big backers of the governor. Members of the Dolan family poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Hochul’s campaign coffer last year as she narrowly defeated Republican Lee Zeldin.

The Coalition to Restore New York, a political action committee founded by Dolan, also spent more than half a million dollars on ads supporting the Democratic governor.

Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), whose district includes MSG, is a vocal Dolan critic who has previously backed repealing the tax break.

Hoylman-Sigal has publicly feuded with Dolan in recent months over MSG’s use of surveillance and facial recognition technology to keep opponents out of the arena and his other famed properties, including Radio City Music Hall.

The lawmaker penned a bill earlier this year that would add sporting events to an existing law prohibiting “wrongful refusal of admission” to patrons with valid tickets to “places of public entertainment or amusement.” He also attended a rally in support of ending MSG’s tax exemption on Friday.

“Madison Square Garden is benefitting from an incredibly generous subsidy that frankly has outlived it’s useful purpose and did so 30 years ago,” Hoylman-Sigal told The News. “They aren’t a church, they’re not a nonprofit entity; they’ve benefitted from four decades of public officials looking the other way.”

In a statement, a spokeswoman for MSG took aim at Hoylman-Sigal’s support for tax abatements for film and other industries when asked about the new proposal.

“Our tax abatement is no different than the government subsidies that every single stadium and arena in New York city and state receive and in fact, is hundreds of millions of dollars less than most other venues,” the spokeswoman said. “Where is the revocation of the subsidies of all the other teams and venues around the state?”

Dolan’s troubles intensified over the weekend. The State Liquor Authority threatened to revoke MSG’s license to sell alcohol at the arena, as well as Radio City and the Beacon Theater, over its barring of lawyers involved in litigation against the Garden.

MSG filed for a court injunction blocking the state from imposing any ban on booze sales in its venues on Saturday.

Earlier this year, state Attorney General Letitia James asked Dolan in a letter for “justifications for the company’s policies” in keeping certain fans out of his venues.

She said research suggests the company’s use of facial recognition software “may be plagued with biases and false positives” against people of color and women.

Dolan defended the policy and use of surveillance technology in a fiery appearance on Fox 5′s “Good Day New York” in January.

“If someone is suing you, that’s confrontational,” he said. “If you’re being sued, you don’t have to welcome that person into your home.”