NY Real Prop Tax L § 485-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws RPT - Real Property Tax Article 4 - Exemptions Title 2 - Private Property 485-A - Residential-Commerical Urban Exemption Program.

§   485-a.   Residential-commercial   urban   exemption   program.  1. Definitions.  As used in this section, the following  terms  shall  have the following meanings:  (a)  "Municipality"  means any town, city or village except for a city having more than one million inhabitants.  (b) "Applicant" means any person obligated to pay real property  taxes on  the  property  for which an exemption from real property taxes under this section is sought.  (c)  "Commercial   construction   work"   means   the   modernization, rehabilitation,  expansion  or  other  improvement  of  the  portion  of mixed-use property to be used for commercial purposes.  (d) "Commercial purpose or use"  means  (i)  the  buying,  selling  or otherwise providing of goods or services directly to the public; or (ii) a  non-residential  lawful use including, but not limited to, an office, hotel, retail store,  brewery,  distillery,  restaurant,  cafe,  bar  or tavern,  gymnasium,  theater, or entertainment venue which employs or is anticipated to employ a minimum  of  five  employees  primarily  at  the mixed-use property for which an exemption under this section is sought.  (e)  "Mixed-use  property"  means  property on which will exist, after completion  of  residential  construction  work  or  a  combination   of residential  construction  work  and  commercial  construction  work,  a building or structure used for both residential and commercial  purposes of  which,  at least forty percent of the building or structure's square footage is devoted to residential purposes or use and at  least  fifteen percent  of  the  building  or  structure's square footage is devoted to commercial purposes or use.  (f) "Person"  means  an  individual,  corporation,  limited  liability company,  partnership,  association,  agency,  trust, estate, foreign or domestic government or subdivision thereof, or other entity.  (g) "Residential construction work" means the creation, modernization, rehabilitation, expansion or other improvement of dwelling units,  other than  dwelling units in a hotel, in the portion of mixed-use property to be used for residential purposes.  (h) "Story above grade" means any  story  having  its  finished  floor surface entirely above grade.  (i)  "Grade"  shall  mean  the  finished  ground  level  adjoining the building at all exterior walls.   2. Any municipality may, by local law, provide for  the  exemption  of real  property  from  taxation  as  provided  in  this section. Upon the adoption of such a local law, the county in which such  municipality  is located may, by local law, and any school district, all or part of which is  located  in  such  municipality,  may,  by  resolution,  exempt such property from its taxation in the same manner and to the same extent  as such municipality has done.   3.  Upon  the  adoption  of  such  a  local  law, non-residential real property, upon conversion to mixed-use property, shall  be  exempt  from taxation  and  special  ad valorem levies as provided for in subdivision four of this section.   4. (a) (i) For a period of  twelve  years  from  the  approval  of  an application,   the   increase   in   assessed  value  of  such  property attributable  to  such  conversion  shall  be  exempt  as  provided   in subparagraph  (ii)  of  this paragraph. Such exemption shall be computed with respect to the  "exemption  base".  The  exemption  base  shall  be determined for each year in which there is an increase in assessed value so attributable from that of the previous year's assessed value.  (ii)  The  following table shall illustrate the computation of the tax exemption:        Year of exemption                      Percentage of exemption            1 through 8                        100% of exemption base           9                                  80% of exemption base           10                                 60% of exemption base           11                                 40% of exemption base           12                                 20% of exemption base  (b) No such exemption shall be granted unless:  (i)  such conversion was commenced subsequent to the date on which the municipality's local law took effect; and  (ii) the cost of such conversion  exceeds  the  sum  of  ten  thousand dollars or such greater amount as may be specified by local law.  (c) For purposes of this section the term conversion shall not include ordinary maintenance and repairs.  (d)  No  such exemption shall be granted concurrent with or subsequent to  any  other  real  property  tax  exemption  granted  to   the   same improvements  to  real property, except, where during the period of such previous exemption, payments in lieu of taxes  or  other  payments  were made  to the local government in an amount that would have been equal to or greater than the amount of real property taxes that would  have  been paid  on  such  improvements had such property been granted an exemption pursuant to this section. In such case, an exemption  shall  be  granted for  a  number  of  years  equal  to  the  twelve year exemption granted pursuant to this section less the number of  years  the  property  would have been previously exempt from real property taxes.   5.  Such exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner of such real property on a form prescribed  by  the  commissioner.  Such application  shall  be  filed  with  the assessor of the municipality or county having the power to assess property for taxation on or before the appropriate taxable status date of such municipality or county.   6. If the assessor is satisfied that the applicant is entitled  to  an exemption  pursuant  to  this  section,  he  or  she  shall  approve the application and such real property shall be  exempt  from  taxation  and special  ad  valorem  levies  as  in this section provided. The assessed value of any exemption granted pursuant to this section shall be entered by the assessor on the assessment roll with the taxable  property,  with the amount of the exemption shown in a separate column.   7.  (a)  During  the period of exemption pursuant to this section, the owner shall submit an annual certification  to  the  assessor  attesting that  the  property complies with the provisions or requirements of this section and any additional provisions or requirements as may be provided by local law. Failure to  submit  such  certification  shall  result  in revocation  of  benefits.  Such certification shall include at a minimum the following:  (i) the types of residential use  and  the  total  above-grade  square footage and below-grade square footage of such use;  (ii)  the  types  of  commercial  use and the total above-grade square footage and below-grade square footage of such use;  (iii) attestation that the portion of the building used for commercial purposes is currently, as demonstrated by documentation submitted by the applicant, used as such or is in good faith contemplated to be  used  as such;  (iv)  the  specific  address  of the entrance through which the public enters the portion of the building used for commercial purposes;  (v) if the portion of the building intended to be used for  commercial purposes  is  not  currently in active use for such purposes and open to  the public,  the  reasons  why  it  is  not  currently  being  used  for commercial purposes and open to the public; and  (vi) all such other information required by the municipality.  (b)  If  the  assessor is satisfied that the applicant continues to be entitled to the exemption pursuant to this section, the  assessor  shall approve the certification and the real property shall remain exempt from taxation  and  special ad valorem levies for another year as provided in this section.   8. (a) The benefits of this section shall be revoked upon a finding by the assessor that:  (i) the application for benefits hereunder or the annual certification required hereunder contains a false statement or false information as to a material matter or omits a material matter;  (ii) the eligible real property fails to comply with one  or  more  of the  provisions  or  requirements  of  this section or any provisions or requirements provided by local law; or  (iii) the portion of the property devoted to commercial  purposes  has not  been  in  active use for commercial purposes and open to the public for three consecutive years.  (b) Such revocation  shall  require  the  repayment  of  any  benefits previously  granted  pursuant  to this section for any year during which the  property  was  non-compliant   or   the   application   or   annual certification  contained  a false statement or false information as to a material matter or omitted a material matter.  (c) No benefits may be revoked unless the  applicant  has  been  given thirty  days'  notice  of  such revocation and has been given reasonable notice to cure any failure to comply with the provisions of requirements of this section.   9. If the assessor determines that there was a  material  misstatement in  an  application filed by or on behalf of the owners for an exemption pursuant to this section and that such misstatement provided  the  basis for  the  granting  of such exemption, the municipality shall proceed to impose a penalty on the applicant of one thousand dollars in addition to recovering the amount of any prior exemption granted.