2007 Legislative Report from the Assembly Committee on Real Property Taxation |
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A Message from the Chair. . .
My second year serving as Chair of the Assembly Real Property Tax Committee has been a whirlwind of public hearings, roundtables, Committee meetings and legislative activity related to three major areas of reform. This is in keeping with my philosophy of vigorous public discussion of legislation by the taxpaying public and public officials who administer the real property tax. We have enthusiastically supported the creation of a Blue Ribbon Commission to study and make recommendations for the overhaul of our system of real property taxation, especially insofar as it is the primary source of funding for our public schools. Without treading into issues of school spending, there are many areas where the real property tax should be revised to make equalization rates fairer and more accurate. The real property tax system must be modified so as to create a system that is understandable and transparent to the taxpaying public and of course, designed to be fair among all of our homeowners and commercial property owners. Secondly, we have explored a constitutional amendment to fundamentally improve the administration of the real property tax. Issues such as a multi-year assessing cycle, a single statewide standard of assessment and county assessing have been much discussed. We’ve even reviewed the make-up of the State Board of Real Property Services and its role in the assessment and taxation process. Finally, we have openly debated the justification for the limited assessments given to cooperatives and condominiums and how we might generate greater equity between single family residential property owners without regard to the form of ownership. As the Legislature continues to provide tax relief, the Committee has played a leadership role with respect to the continuation of the School Tax Relief (STAR) program and working with the Governor and the Senate in enacting the Middle Income STAR Rebate Program. In this year’s newsletter, we feature an article on assessment caps contributed by Thomas Frey IAO, Executive Secretary of the New York State Assessors’ Association. As always, my office staff and the staff of the Committee are available to respond to your questions and concerns.
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Retention of Tax Certiorari Reserve Funds Clarified At a forum of Westchester County school officials concerning problems associated with the use of the real property tax for school funding, one of the participants noted there was ambiguity in the law concerning how long tax certiorari reserve funds could be maintained by school districts. There appeared to be a requirement that reserve funds could only be retained for four years, but this amount of time was not long enough for final resolution of these cases. Therefore, when refunds were finally ordered to be paid, there were no reserves to offset them, and this placed an extraordinary burden on school budgets. In response to this problem, Assemblywoman Galef introduced and passed legislation signed into law by Governor Spitzer on August 1, 2007. Chapter 445 of the Laws of 2007 clarifies that tax certiorari reserve funds could be maintained longer than four years “if the proceeding or claim has not been finally determined or otherwise terminated or disposed of after the exhaustion of all appeals.” |
Law Helps Volunteer Firefighters and Ambulance WorkersChoose Tax Credit Chapter 532 of the Laws of 2007 makes it possible for all active volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers to qualify for the personal income tax credit in calendar year 2007, even if such volunteer also received a real property tax exemption for his or her volunteer service. As you may recall, in 2006 NYS adopted a law that provides volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers with a $200 personal income tax credit (the credit is $400 for taxpayers who file a joint return and who each qualify for the credit). This tax credit is available to a volunteer that is active and who is not also receiving a real property tax exemption for his or her volunteer service. Because this law was adopted after many volunteers had already applied for their local real property tax exemption, such volunteers would not be eligible for the personal income tax credit for the 2007 income tax year. Chapter 532 corrects this problem. All volunteers should start to prepare for the 2007 tax year immediately by reviewing their real property tax bills or speaking with their local assessor to determine the amount of money they save from their real property tax exemption and comparing the amount of money saved from the real property tax exemption with the amount of the personal income tax credit. If the volunteer wishes to continue to receive the real property tax exemption (and forego the personal income tax credit), then the volunteer must re-apply for the real property tax exemption by the deadline established in that particular locality. On the other hand, if the volunteer wishes to receive the personal income tax credit, then such volunteer must submit a letter to his or her local assessor prior to December 31, 2007 and include the following: 1. a statement that the volunteer no longer wishes to receive the real property tax exemption after December 31, 2007; and 2. a statement that the volunteer will not be re-applying for the real property tax exemption. Submitting such a letter will ensure that the volunteer will receive the personal income tax credit for calendar year 2007, even if such volunteer also received a real property tax exemption in 2007 for his or her volunteer service. |
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Members of the Real Property Tax Committee listen to testimony at a public hearing held on
April 17, 2007 in the Legislative Office Building in Albany. The hearing was held to obtain reaction to
bills establishing a “Blue Ribbon Commission” on property tax reform, enacting a Constitutional
amendment to improve assessment administration and revising the way new condominiums and
cooperatives would be assessed.![]() |
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Assemblywoman Sandra R. Galef, Chair
NYS Assembly Committee on
Legislative Office Building
518.455.5348 |
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