Senate Bill S4191A

                                BILL NUMBER:S4191         REVISED MEMO 03/17/2015

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the public lands law, in relation to
the payment of state aid on account of certain state lands in the town
of New Hudson, in the county of Allegany

PURPOSE:

Provides for the payment of State aid to the Town of New Hudson, in
the County of Allegany, and special districts therein for State land
in such town operated by the Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC).

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Adds a new section 19-c to the Public Lands Law to provide
for the payment of State aid on State lands under the jurisdiction of
the DEC located in Allegany County. The amount of State aid would be
determined by applying the annual tax rates(s) for such town to the
assessed value of the lands, exclusive of improvements, as entered on
the 2015 town assessment roll, adjusted for any change in the level of
assessment.

Section 2. Requires that this act shall take effect immediately, and
the first payment of state aid shall be based upon assessment rolls
completed in the year 2015.
              

EXISTING LAW:

Sections 19-a and 19-b of the Public Lands Law currently provide for
the payment of State aid on account of certain State lands, not
including those in the Town of New Hudson and the County of Allegany.

Sections 532, 534, and 536 of the Real Property and Tax Law make
certain State lands (none in the Town of New Hudson) taxable for some
or all local government purposes.

JUSTIFICATION:

The lands that would be the subject of State aid payments are clearly
of a statewide benefit. 4,651.36 acres of land in the Town of New
Hudson are State-owned and assessed at a total of $2,970,900 based on
2015 assessment rolls. Utilizing the current rate per thousand acres,
14.33027, the current lost tax revenue would equal $42,573.80.

This land, under the jurisdiction of the DEC, is being used for
forestry purposes and the sale of timber, from which the State is
receiving revenue. As a result of the high traffic from logging
trucks, the New Hudson Highway Department has incurred undue costs for
repairs of the roadways servicing these State lands. Because of the
large acreage of tax-exempt State property, the Town finds itself in a
fiscally challenging position with a constrained and overburdened tax
base.

This bill would remedy this situation by providing State aid payments
based upon the applicable local tax rate in any given year, as applied
against the assessment roll of the Town of New Hudson.  Additionally,


these payments will help to offset the cost of the road repairs and
correct this overdue loss of tax revenue.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2011-12: S.4274 Referred to Investigations & Government Operations
2009-10: S.2262-A/A.7058-A Referred to Investigations & Government
Operations
2007-08: S.414/A.4934 Referred to Investigations & Government
Operations
2006: S.6501/A.9762 Reported and Committed to Finance

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately and the first payment of State
aid shall be based upon assessment rolls completed in 2015.