§ 485-A — Residential-commercial urban exemption program

New York § 485-A

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law RPT: Real Property Tax
• Title 2: Private Property
• Art. 4: Exemptions

Text

§ 485-a. Residential-commercial urban exemption program. 1.\nDefinitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have\nthe following meanings:\n (a) "Municipality" means any town, city or village except for a city\nhaving more than one million inhabitants.\n (b) "Applicant" means any person obligated to pay real property taxes\non the property for which an exemption from real property taxes under\nthis section is sought.\n (c) "Commercial construction work" means the modernization,\nrehabilitation, expansion or other improvement of the portion of\nmixed-use property to be used for commercial purposes.\n (d) "Commercial purpose or use" means (i) the buying, selling or\notherwise providing of goods or services directly to the public; or (ii)\na non-residential lawful use including, but not limited to, an office,\nhotel, retail store, brewery, distillery, restaurant, cafe, bar or\ntavern, gymnasium, theater, or entertainment venue which employs or is\nanticipated to employ a minimum of five employees primarily at the\nmixed-use property for which an exemption under this section is sought.\n (e) "Mixed-use property" means property on which will exist, after\ncompletion of residential construction work or a combination of\nresidential construction work and commercial construction work, a\nbuilding or structure used for both residential and commercial purposes\nof which, at least forty percent of the building or structure's square\nfootage is devoted to residential purposes or use and at least fifteen\npercent of the building or structure's square footage is devoted to\ncommercial purposes or use.\n (f) "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability\ncompany, partnership, association, agency, trust, estate, foreign or\ndomestic government or subdivision thereof, or other entity.\n (g) "Residential construction work" means the creation, modernization,\nrehabilitation, expansion or other improvement of dwelling units, other\nthan dwelling units in a hotel, in the portion of mixed-use property to\nbe used for residential purposes.\n (h) "Story above grade" means any story having its finished floor\nsurface entirely above grade.\n (i) "Grade" shall mean the finished ground level adjoining the\nbuilding at all exterior walls.\n 2. Any municipality may, by local law, provide for the exemption of\nreal property from taxation as provided in this section. Upon the\nadoption of such a local law, the county in which such municipality is\nlocated may, by local law, and any school district, all or part of which\nis located in such municipality, may, by resolution, exempt such\nproperty from its taxation in the same manner and to the same extent as\nsuch municipality has done.\n 3. Upon the adoption of such a local law, non-residential real\nproperty, upon conversion to mixed-use property, shall be exempt from\ntaxation and special ad valorem levies as provided for in subdivision\nfour of this section.\n 4. (a) (i) For a period of twelve years from the approval of an\napplication, the increase in assessed value of such property\nattributable to such conversion shall be exempt as provided in\nsubparagraph (ii) of this paragraph. Such exemption shall be computed\nwith respect to the "exemption base". The exemption base shall be\ndetermined for each year in which there is an increase in assessed value\nso attributable from that of the previous year's assessed value.\n (ii) The following table shall illustrate the computation of the tax\nexemption:\n Year of exemption Percentage of exemption\n 1 through 8 100% of exemption base\n 9 80% of exemption base\n 10 60% of exemption base\n 11 40% of exemption base\n 12 20% of exemption base\n (b) No such exemption shall be granted unless:\n (i) such conversion was commenced subsequent to the date on which the\nmunicipality's local law took effect; and\n (ii) the cost of such conversion exceeds the sum of ten thousand\ndollars or such greater amount as may be specified by local law.\n (c) For purposes of this section the term conversion shall not include\nordinary maintenance and repairs.\n (d) No such exemption shall be granted concurrent with or subsequent\nto any other real property tax exemption granted to the same\nimprovements to real property, except, where during the period of such\nprevious exemption, payments in lieu of taxes or other payments were\nmade to the local government in an amount that would have been equal to\nor greater than the amount of real property taxes that would have been\npaid on such improvements had such property been granted an exemption\npursuant to this section. In such case, an exemption shall be granted\nfor a number of years equal to the twelve year exemption granted\npursuant to this section less the number of years the property would\nhave been previously exempt from real property taxes.\n 5. Such exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner\nof such real property on a form prescribed by the commissioner. Such\napplication shall be filed with the assessor of the municipality or\ncounty having the power to assess property for taxation on or before the\nappropriate taxable status date of such municipality or county.\n 6. If the assessor is satisfied that the applicant is entitled to an\nexemption pursuant to this section, he or she shall approve the\napplication and such real property shall be exempt from taxation and\nspecial ad valorem levies as in this section provided. The assessed\nvalue of any exemption granted pursuant to this section shall be entered\nby the assessor on the assessment roll with the taxable property, with\nthe amount of the exemption shown in a separate column.\n 7. (a) During the period of exemption pursuant to this section, the\nowner shall submit an annual certification to the assessor attesting\nthat the property complies with the provisions or requirements of this\nsection and any additional provisions or requirements as may be provided\nby local law. Failure to submit such certification shall result in\nrevocation of benefits. Such certification shall include at a minimum\nthe following:\n (i) the types of residential use and the total above-grade square\nfootage and below-grade square footage of such use;\n (ii) the types of commercial use and the total above-grade square\nfootage and below-grade square footage of such use;\n (iii) attestation that the portion of the building used for commercial\npurposes is currently, as demonstrated by documentation submitted by the\napplicant, used as such or is in good faith contemplated to be used as\nsuch;\n (iv) the specific address of the entrance through which the public\nenters the portion of the building used for commercial purposes;\n (v) if the portion of the building intended to be used for commercial\npurposes is not currently in active use for such purposes and open to\nthe public, the reasons why it is not currently being used for\ncommercial purposes and open to the public; and\n (vi) all such other information required by the municipality.\n (b) If the assessor is satisfied that the applicant continues to be\nentitled to the exemption pursuant to this section, the assessor shall\napprove the certification and the real property shall remain exempt from\ntaxation and special ad valorem levies for another year as provided in\nthis section.\n 8. (a) The benefits of this section shall be revoked upon a finding by\nthe assessor that:\n (i) the application for benefits hereunder or the annual certification\nrequired hereunder contains a false statement or false information as to\na material matter or omits a material matter;\n (ii) the eligible real property fails to comply with one or more of\nthe provisions or requirements of this section or any provisions or\nrequirements provided by local law; or\n (iii) the portion of the property devoted to commercial purposes has\nnot been in active use for commercial purposes and open to the public\nfor three consecutive years.\n (b) Such revocation shall require the repayment of any benefits\npreviously granted pursuant to this section for any year during which\nthe property was non-compliant or the application or annual\ncertification contained a false statement or false information as to a\nmaterial matter or omitted a material matter.\n (c) No benefits may be revoked unless the applicant has been given\nthirty days' notice of such revocation and has been given reasonable\nnotice to cure any failure to comply with the provisions of requirements\nof this section.\n 9. If the assessor determines that there was a material misstatement\nin an application filed by or on behalf of the owners for an exemption\npursuant to this section and that such misstatement provided the basis\nfor the granting of such exemption, the municipality shall proceed to\nimpose a penalty on the applicant of one thousand dollars in addition to\nrecovering the amount of any prior exemption granted.\n