Legislation is being introduced this week to seek $24m to extend New York City’s popular film and TV tax credit programme until 2011, but the move aims to trim the rebate from 5% to 4%.

The proposal is being put before the state legislature in Albany this week. Since 2005, the City of New York has offered a 5% rebate on below-the-line expenses on film and TV productions, which was an attractive topper to the 30% state-wide rebate.

But as the city faces a budget crisis, the legislation proposes the slimmer 4% rebate and a $250,000 cap per qualifying production — a feature film or a single episode of a TV series. The cap would be $300,000 if 75% of the post-production work is done in the city.

The proposed move would also put an annual cap on rebates — so that if 2009’s allocation is used up early, officials couldn’t dip into the 2010 funding pot.

The original $50m that the city had allocated for four years was depleted in just over a year.

The city’s plans echo a similar move by New York State recently. The popularity of the state’s 30% tax credit meant its $460m in funding to last until 2013 ran out earlier this year. In April, the State Budget extended that credit with $350m in funding, which the production community called a temporary fix.

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