Senate Bill S8069A

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8069A

SPONSOR: LITTLE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to requiring
every assessing unit to conduct a revaluation of assessment at least
every twenty years

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this legislation is to require every assessing unit to
conduct a revaluation of assessment at least every twenty years.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. The Real Property Tax Law is amended by adding a new section
306, which reads as follows: Assessment cycle. Every assessing unit
shall conduct a revaluation of assessments in its jurisdiction at least
once every twentieth year.

              

Section 2. Establishes the effective date.

 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):

The effective date was changed from January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2021.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Currently, in New York State, assessing units are not required to
conduct cyclical reassessments. As a result, reassessment activity is
very inconsistent across the State. Some assessing units conduct reas-
sessments annually, while others have not reassessed since the early
part of the 20th century. The lack of consistency creates confusion
among taxpayers and inequitable assessments.

Furthermore, as indicated in the Journal of Property Tax Assessment &
Administration, Volume 7, Issue 4, over 31 states have a state law that
requires a periodic reappraisal of property. Depending on the state,
these reappraisals can occur annually or range up to once every five
years, and they are performed by the locality or by the state.

This legislation would require that all assessing units conduct an
assessment at least once every twenty years. Ideally, in an attempt to
bring forth fairness and accuracy, I would like to see cyclical reas-
sessments every four years as addressed in A.2873 of 2018. However,
because of the associated costs that some municipalities have mentioned,
I felt this was a fair compromise, still benefiting many communities.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is new legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

There are no fiscal implications to the State, and an exact cost to
local governments in unknown at this time.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect January 1, 2021; provided, that effective
immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regu-
lation necessary for the implementation of this act is authorized and
directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.