Provides that owners of private real property exempt from taxation shall give municipalities notice of intention to sell

4 Co-sponsors

• Ruben Diaz
• Martin Malavé Dilan
• Liz Krueger
• John L. Sampson

BILL NUMBER:S1887A

Title of bill

An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to requiring notice of intention to sell exempt real property

Purpose

The goal of this legislation is to give county and local governments, school districts and other public entities timely notice of the intention to sell tax exempt real property. Such notice will allow local governments to compete with other potential buyers for acquisition of the property, if they are interested. Compliance, rather than monetary fines, is emphasized in this legislation. Non-compliance or late compliance would be considered a barrier to or delay the sale.

Summary of provisions

Amends the Real Property Tax Law by adding a new section four hundred ninety-seven to provide for notification of intention to sell private property exempt from real property taxation to those local jurisdictions providing such real property tax exemption.

This legislation includes private property exempt from real property taxation because of the not-for-profit status of the property owner (Section 420a-non-profit organizations; mandatory class and Section 420b-nonprofit organizations; permissive class). Also included are governmental entities not subject to real property tax payment.

(Section 404-State of New York, Section 406-Municipal corporations, Section 408- School districts and boards of cooperative educational services, Section 410-Special districts, Section 410a-Special districts, Section 410b-Special water districts, Section 412-Public authorities, Section 412a-Industrial development agencies, Section 412b-Industrial development agency railroad property, Section 414-Public housing; publicly assisted housing and limited-profit nursing homes).

These exempt property owners must notify, by certified mail, each public entity from whose taxation the owner is exempt of the intention to sell such property. The notification must be received by the public entity at least thirty (30) days before the exempt property is advertised for sale, or, if the property is not advertised for sale, at least thirty (30) days before the contract of sale is signed.

Justification

Currently, the value of tax exempt property in New York State exceeds $165 billion. The burden of exemptions is usually carried by the nonexempt taxpayers and local governments providing the exemption. The transfer of tax exempt property often involves issues of local

land use policy, environmental, development and public planning concerns. This legislation merely provides local governments with notice of intention to sell, so that they have the ability to compete for the acquisition of tax exempt property, if it serves their interests. No special treatment is accorded these governments and no burden is placed on the owners of the property as to sale. The loss of revenues provided by real property tax exemptions should justify notice to local governments of the ability to bargain for tax exempt properties. Notice gives them this opportunity.

Legislative history

01/13/11 REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT 01/04/12 REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall become a law.