§ 306 — Agricultural lands outside of districts; agricultural assessments

§ 306. Agricultural lands outside of districts; agricultural\nassessments. 1. Any owner of land used in agricultural production\noutside of an agricultural district shall be eligible for an\nagricultural assessment as provided herein. If an applicant rents land\nfrom another for use in conjunction with the applicant's land for the\nproduction for sale of crops, livestock or livestock products, the gross\nsales value of such products on such rented land shall be added to the\ngross sales value of such products produced on the land of the applicant\nfor purposes of determining eligibility for an agricultural assessment\non the land of the applicant.\n Such assessment shall be granted pursuant to paragraphs a, b and f of\nsubdivision one of section three hundred five of this article as if such\nland were in an agricultural district, provided the landowner annually\nsubmits to the assessor an application for an agricultural assessment on\nor before the taxable status date. In the year of a revaluation or\nupdate of assessments, as those terms are defined in section one hundred\ntwo of the real property tax law, the application may be filed with the\nassessor no later than the thirtieth day prior to the day by which the\ntentative assessment roll is required to be filed by law. Nothing\ntherein shall be construed to limit an applicant's discretion to\nwithhold from such application any land, or portion thereof, contained\nwithin a single operation.\n 2. a. (i) If land which received an agricultural assessment pursuant\nto this section is converted at any time within eight years from the\ntime an agricultural assessment was last received, such conversion shall\nsubject the land so converted to payments in compensation for the prior\nbenefits of agricultural assessments. The amount of the payments shall\nbe equal to five times the taxes saved in the last year in which land\nbenefited from an agricultural assessment, plus interest of six percent\nper year compounded annually for each year in which an agricultural\nassessment was granted, not exceeding five years.\n (ii) The amount of taxes saved for the last year in which the land\nbenefited from an agricultural assessment shall be determined by\napplying the applicable tax rates to the amount of assessed valuation of\nsuch land in excess of the agricultural assessment of such land as set\nforth on the last assessment roll which indicates such an excess. If\nonly a portion of such land as described on the assessment roll is\nconverted, the assessor shall apportion the assessment and agricultural\nassessment attributable to the converted portion, as determined for the\nlast assessment roll on which the assessment of such portion exceeded\nits agricultural assessment. The difference between the apportioned\nassessment and the apportioned agricultural assessment shall be the\namount upon which payments shall be determined. Payments shall be levied\nin the same manner as other taxes, by or on behalf of each taxing\njurisdiction on the assessment roll prepared on the basis of the first\ntaxable status date on which the assessor considers the land to have\nbeen converted; provided, however, that no payments shall be imposed if\nthe last assessment roll upon which the property benefited from an\nagricultural assessment, was more than eight years prior to the year for\nwhich the assessment roll upon which payments would otherwise be levied\nis prepared.\n (iii) Whenever a conversion occurs, the owner shall notify the\nassessor within ninety days of the date such conversion is commenced. If\nthe landowner fails to make such notification within the ninety day\nperiod, the assessing unit, by majority vote of the governing body, may\nimpose a penalty on behalf of the assessing unit of up to two times the\ntotal payments owed, but not to exceed a maximum total penalty of one\nthousand dollars in addition to any payments owed.\n b. (i) An assessor who determines that there is liability for payments\nand any penalties pursuant to subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph shall\nnotify the landowner of such liability at least ten days prior to the\nday for hearing of complaints in relation to assessments. Such notice\nshall specify the area subject to payments and shall describe how such\npayments shall be determined. Failure to provide such notice shall not\naffect the levy, collection, or enforcement of payments.\n (ii) Liability for payments shall be subject to administrative and\njudicial review as provided by law for the review of assessments.\n (iii) An assessor who imposes any such payments shall annually, and\nwithin forty-five days following the date on which the final assessment\nroll is required to be filed, report such payments to the commissioner\nof taxation and finance on a form prescribed by the commissioner.\n (iv) The assessing unit, by majority vote of the government body, may\nimpose a minimum payment amount, not to exceed five hundred dollars.\n c. If such land or any portion thereof is converted by virtue of oil,\ngas or wind exploration, development, or extraction activity or by\nvirtue of a taking by eminent domain or other involuntary proceeding\nother than a tax sale, the land or portion so converted shall not be\nsubject to payments. If land so converted constitutes only a portion of\na parcel described on the assessment roll, the assessor shall apportion\nthe assessment, and adjust the agricultural assessment attributable to\nthe portion of the parcel not subject to such conversion by subtracting\nthe proportionate part of the agricultural assessment attributable to\nthe portion so converted. Provided further that land outside an\nagricultural district and eligible for an agricultural assessment\npursuant to this section shall not be considered to have been converted\nto a use other than for agricultural production solely due to the\nconveyance of oil, gas or wind rights associated with that land.\n d. The purchase of land in fee by the city of New York for watershed\nprotection purposes or the conveyance of a conservation easement by the\ncity of New York to the department of environmental conservation which\nprohibits future use of the land for agricultural purposes shall not be\na conversion of parcels and no payment for the prior benefits of\nagricultural assessments shall be due under this section.\n 3. Upon the inclusion of such agricultural lands in an agricultural\ndistrict formed pursuant to section three hundred three, the provisions\nof section three hundred five shall be controlling.\n 4. A payment levied pursuant to subparagraph (i) of paragraph a of\nsubdivision two of this section shall be a lien on the entire parcel\ncontaining the converted land, notwithstanding that less than the entire\nparcel was converted.\n 5. Use of assessment for certain purposes. The governing body of a\nwater, lighting, sewer, sanitation, fire, fire protection, or ambulance\ndistrict for whose benefit a special assessment or a special ad valorem\nlevy is imposed, may adopt a resolution to provide that the assessments\ndetermined pursuant to subdivision one of this section for property\nwithin the district shall be used for the special assessment or special\nad valorem levy of such special district.\n