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Co-op City board member claimed upstate home as primary residence and got tax breaks.

Investigation finds a champion of affordable housing and Co-op City board member owns homes outside the Bronx - and scored tax breaks by claiming he lived there full-time, according to an internal investigation.

But Bernie Cylich is calling the probe a political hit job.

A report by Jeffrey Buss, general counsel for the company that manages the sprawling Bronx complex, reveals that Cylich owns pads in North Carolina and upstate New York.

It also shows the retired electrician received the same property tax break for his homes in the Bronx and Copake Falls, NY from 2008 to 2011 by declaring both his "primary residence."

In 2004, when he took out a mortgage to buy the upstate home, he claimed it as his primary residence, the report finds.

Cylich argues he received the $317 annual STAR benefit for his Copake Falls home unknowingly because it was grandfathered in when he bought the property.

He nixed the tax break last November, after Buss inquired.

Cylich made the mortgage misnomer knowingly. He didn't think his bank would mind and has still received no complaint.

"There are other board members who have secondary property but there are no investigations of them," he said. "This investigation was stacked against me with the intention of evicting me and removing me from the board."

Buss launched the probe at the board's request because Co-op City is an affordable Mitchell-Lama project and shareholders are required under state law to make it their primary residence.

The report presented to the board Jan. 13 finds that Co-op City is Cylich's primary residence. He votes, files taxes and receives his social security checks there.

But it argues he should not have received the upstate tax break and recommends the board discuss punishing Cylich.

The Bronx native, who bought a three-bedroom Co-op City apartment for $3,000 in 1970, has been a vocal opponent of privatizing the complex.

Such a move would allow current shareholders to make a profit by selling their homes at market rates. But Cylich argues that maintenance fee hikes and new property taxes would accompany privatization and force out retirees on fixed incomes.

Cylich heads a Co-op City organization called The Coalition to Save Affordable Housing and led a group of neighbors downtown last November to take part in an Occupy Wall Street protest.

"We have many snowbirds here...families with vacation homes," he said. "We have them because Co-op City is affordable. We want to keep it that way so we can enjoy the fruits of our labor.

"I'm still the little guy. I'm a retired senior...I own another home but I'm still part of the 99%."

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