§ 1537 — Optional county services

§ 1537. Optional county services. 1. (a) An assessing unit and a\ncounty shall have the power to enter into, amend, cancel and terminate\nan agreement for appraisal services, exemption services, assessment\nservices, or assessment review services, in the manner provided by this\nsection. Such an agreement shall be considered an agreement for the\nprovision of a "joint service" for purposes of article five-G of the\ngeneral municipal law, notwithstanding the fact that the county would\nnot have the power to perform such services in the absence of such an\nagreement.\n (b) Any such agreement shall be approved by both the assessing unit\nand the county, by a majority vote of the voting strength of each\ngoverning body.\n (c) In the case of an assessing unit, no such agreement shall be\nsubmitted to the governing body for approval unless at least forty-five\ndays prior to such submission, the governing body shall have adopted a\nresolution, subject to a permissive referendum, authorizing the\nassessing unit to negotiate such an agreement with the county; provided,\nhowever, that such prior authorization shall not be required for an\nagreement to amend, cancel or terminate an existing agreement pursuant\nto this section.\n 2. (a) An agreement between an assessing unit and a county for\nappraisal services shall provide for the county to appraise all real\nproperty within such assessing unit for assessment purposes.\n (b) The county shall employ appraisers and other technical personnel\nto make the appraisals of such properties. No person shall be employed\nby the county and assigned professional appraisal duties which relate to\nthe assessment of real property for purposes of taxation unless such\nperson meets the minimum qualification standards established by the\ncommissioner. Such appraisal personnel shall attend courses of training\nand education prescribed by the commissioner.\n (c) Such appraisals shall be completed no later than the taxable\nstatus date of the assessing unit, and shall be submitted by the county\ndirector to the assessor in the form and containing such information as\nshall be prescribed by the commissioner.\n (d) Appraisals furnished pursuant to this section shall serve as the\nbasis of the assessment of the property so appraised.\n (e) Such an agreement may further provide that in any administrative\nor judicial proceeding to review an assessment which is based upon a\ncounty appraisal, the county shall provide such testimony and other\nevidence as may be necessary to defend such appraisal.\n 3. An agreement between an assessing unit and a county for exemption\nservices shall provide for the county to review applications for\nexemption and determine the eligibility of the applicants for such\nexemptions. Such agreement may further provide that in any\nadministrative or judicial proceeding to review an assessment in which\nthe denial of an exemption is at issue, the county shall provide such\ntestimony and other evidence as may be necessary to defend its denial of\nexempt status.\n 4. An agreement between an assessing unit and a county for assessment\nservices shall provide for a person, other than the county director of\nreal property tax services, to be selected by the assessing unit to\nperform assessment services in accordance with such agreement. Such\nperson shall be deemed the assessor of the assessing unit and shall be\nsubject to all provisions of law pertaining to assessors. Provided,\nhowever, that no such agreement for assessment services may be entered\ninto by an assessing unit which has exercised the option to retain\nelective assessors pursuant to law.\n 5. An agreement between an assessing unit and a county for assessment\nreview services shall provide for the members of the board of assessment\nreview of the assessing unit to be appointed by the legislative body of\nthe county upon the recommendation of the county director of the real\nproperty tax services. Each member so appointed shall be a resident of\nthe county but need not be a resident of the assessing unit. The board\nof assessment review as so constituted shall have the authority to\nreceive, review and resolve petitions for assessment review filed in\nsuch assessing unit, and for the corrections of errors therein, to the\nfull extent set forth in article five of this chapter.\n