Senate Bill S5076

                                BILL NUMBER:S5076A

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
authorizing the village of Bronxville to seek judicial review
of a small claims assessment review in
certain circumstances; and providing for the repeal of such provisions
upon expiration thereof

PURPOSE:
To establish a demonstration program to allow the Village of
Bronxville to have the right to judicial review of small claims
assessment review proceedings via the Article 78 appeals process.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Enacts, into the unconsolidated law, a provision permitting
the village of Bronxville in the county of Westchester to seek
judicial review pursuant to article seventy-eight of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules of a small claims assessment review decision
made pursuant to Title 1-A of Article Seven of the Real Property Tax
Law. The Village of Bronxville may request such review only when the
village has conducted a revaluation of all real property within the
last four years, when the equalized value of the property's
challenged assessment is at least four hundred fifty thousand
dollars, and when the reduction sought is equal or greater than
              

fifteen percent of the challenged assessment.
This demonstration program would sunset on January 1, 2016 so that the
State Legislature can evaluate the need for such authority to be
vested in the Village of Bronxville, and perhaps extended to other
municipalities in New York.

Section 2: This act shall become effective immediately and can apply
to small claims assessment review decisions on or after January I,
2012 and shall expire on January 1, 2016.

JUSTIFICATION:
Utilizing the small claims assessment review (commonly
known as SCAR) process, individual property owners can ask that the
value of their assigned assessed value of their property be reviewed
in court. When dissatisfied with the finding of the lower court, the
property owner is afforded the right to appeal such real property tax
assessment decision. However, when the SCAR proceeding is decided in
favor of the property owner, the local municipality has no right to
appeal such decision. This lack of ability to appeal to a higher
court precludes a municipality to raise very legitimate questions on
how the lower court reviewed such assessment or the criteria used.

When the locality believes that a determination made in favor of the
property owner is based on faulty logic or reasoning, they have no
legal recourse to either challenge that decision or ensure that the

same reasoning will not continue to be used in subsequent SCAR
decisions. This bill provides the village of Bronxville, which has
recently conducted a reassessment of property values, the right to
the same appeal process that an individual has.

In addition to the limitations set forth in section 7803 in the Civil
Practice Law and Rules, the bill provides clarification as to the
circumstances under which the Village of Bronxville may file an appeal.
These circumstances are: a reassessment of the property value must
have been completed within the last four years, the equalized value
of the property's challenged assessment is more than four hundred
fifty thousand dollars, and the requested reduction is equal to or
greater than fifteen percent of the challenged assessment. These
limitations ensure that individual property owners in the village of
Bronxville will not be subject to excessive appeals.

This bill was requested by the Village of Bronxville.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
No fiscal impact to the State.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take affect immediately and shall apply
to small claims assessment review decisions filed on or after January
1, 2012 and shall be deem repealed January 1, 2016.