Creates a tax exemption for owner occupied residential property in municipalities affected by Superstorm Sandy; exempts such buildings from 100 per centum of the increase in assessed value attributable to reconstruction, less 12 1/2 percentum, and less an additional 12 1/2 percentum for each year for an additional 7 years.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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4577--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 30, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sen. BOYLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT in relation to tax assessments for certain improved properties
affected by Superstorm Sandy
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. a. An owner occupied residential property that is the
2 primary residence of the owner reconstructed, altered, or improved due
3 to damage caused by Superstorm Sandy, as defined by subdivision 5 of
4 section 2 of chapter 424 of the laws of 2013, within an eligible munici-
5 pality, as defined by subdivision 2 of section 2 of chapter 424 of the
6 laws of 2013, shall be exempt from taxation of county, town and school
7 levies to the extent provided hereinafter. After a public hearing, the
8 governing board of an eligible municipality may adopt a local law and a
9 school district may adopt a resolution to grant the exemption authorized
10 pursuant to this act. A copy of such local law or resolution shall be
11 filed with the commissioner of taxation and finance and the assessor of
12 such municipality who prepares the assessment roll on which the taxes of
13 such municipality or school district are levied.
14 b. To be eligible for the tax exemption authorized by an eligible
15 municipality or school district pursuant to subdivision a of this
16 section, such primary residence shall have been owner occupied by the
17 same owner immediately prior to Superstorm Sandy and immediately after
18 reconstruction with a certificate of occupancy, and have already
19 received assessment relief pursuant to chapter 424 of the laws of 2013.
20 c. Such primary residence shall be exempt for a period of one year to
21 the extent of one hundred per centum of the increase in assessed value
22 thereof attributable to such reconstruction, alteration or improvement
23 and for an additional period of seven years subject to the following:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06271-06-5
S. 4577--A 2
1 (i) The extent of such exemption shall be decreased by twelve and
2 one-half per centum of the "exemption base" each year during such addi-
3 tional period. The "exemption base" shall be the increase in assessed
4 value as determined in the initial year of the term of the exemption,
5 except as provided in paragraph (ii) of this subdivision.
6 (ii) In any year in which a change in level of assessment of fifteen
7 percent or more is certified for a final assessment roll pursuant to the
8 rules of the commissioner of taxation and finance, the exemption base
9 shall be multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the
10 total assessed value of the parcel on such final assessment roll (after
11 accounting for any physical or quantity changes to the parcel since the
12 immediately preceding assessment roll), and the denominator of which
13 shall be the total assessed value of the parcel on the immediately
14 preceding final assessment roll. The result shall be the new exemption
15 base. The exemption shall thereupon be recomputed to take into account
16 the new exemption base, notwithstanding the fact that the assessor of
17 such municipality receives certification of the change in level of
18 assessment after the completion, verification and filing of the final
19 assessment roll. In the event the assessor of such municipality does not
20 have custody of the final assessment roll when such certification is
21 received, the assessor of such municipality shall certify the recomputed
22 exemption to the local officers having custody and control of the final
23 assessment roll, and such local officers are hereby directed and author-
24 ized to enter the recomputed exemption certified by the assessor of such
25 municipality on the final assessment roll. The assessor of such munici-
26 pality shall give written notice of such recomputed exemption to the
27 property owner, who may, if he or she believes that the exemption was
28 recomputed incorrectly, apply for a correction in the manner provided by
29 title 3 of article 5 of the real property tax law for the correction of
30 clerical errors.
31 (iii) Such exemption shall be applied to the difference in the pre-
32 storm assessed value and the increased assessed value attributable to
33 all the reconstruction, alterations or improvements due to Superstorm
34 Sandy. For the purposes of this section, the market value of the recon-
35 struction, alteration or improvement shall be equal to the increased
36 assessed value attributable to such reconstruction, alteration or
37 improvement divided by the class I ratio in a special assessing unit or
38 the most recently established state equalization rate or special equal-
39 ization rate in the remainder of the state, except where the state
40 equalization rate or special equalization rate equals or exceeds nine-
41 ty-five percent, in which case the increase in assessed value attribut-
42 able to such reconstruction, alteration or improvement shall be deemed
43 to equal the market value of such reconstruction, alteration or improve-
44 ment.
45 d. No such exemption shall be granted for reconstruction, alterations
46 or improvements unless commenced due to damage caused by Superstorm
47 Sandy, and reflected on a certificate of occupancy no later than March
48 1, 2018. The enactment of a local law or resolution granting the
49 exemption authorized pursuant to this act may limit eligibility for the
50 exemption to those forms of reconstruction, alterations or improvements
51 as are prescribed in such local law or resolution. Provided, however,
52 that in no case shall such exemption be granted for reconstruction,
53 alterations or improvements to aspects of a primary residence not in
54 existence or otherwise not a part of the primary residence prior to
55 October 29, 2012.
S. 4577--A 3
1 e. Application for such exemption shall be filed with the assessor of
2 an eligible municipality by the first of March after the adoption of a
3 local law or resolution pursuant to subdivision a of this section, or
4 the first of March of any subsequent year thereafter but no later than
5 March 1, 2018, on a form prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and
6 finance.
7 f. If satisfied that the applicant is entitled to an exemption pursu-
8 ant to this act, the assessor of such municipality shall approve the
9 application and such primary residence shall be exempt from taxation for
10 up to eight prospective tax years as provided by this act. The assessed
11 value of any exemption granted pursuant to this act shall be entered by
12 the assessor of such municipality on the assessment roll with the taxa-
13 ble property, with the amount of the exemption shown in a separate
14 column.
15 g. For the purposes of this act, a primary residence shall mean any
16 building or structure designed and occupied exclusively for residential
17 purposes by not more than three families, and occupied by the owner as a
18 primary residence.
19 h. In the event that a primary residence granted an exemption pursuant
20 to this act ceases to be used as a primary residence of the owner, or
21 the title thereto is transferred, the exemption granted pursuant to this
22 act shall cease. However, the exemption granted pursuant to this act
23 shall continue for the remaining exemption period for as long as an
24 heir-at-law or distributee of such owner occupies the property as a
25 primary residence.
26 i. No such local law or resolution shall reduce or repeal an exemption
27 granted pursuant to this section until the expiration of the period for
28 which such exemption was granted.
29 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to
30 exemption applications made prior to the first of March next succeeding
31 the date on which this act shall have become a law and no later than
32 March 1, 2018, and any exemption once granted shall continue for a peri-
33 od of up to eight prospective tax years as set forth in this act.