Bill Text: NY A00952 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for a partial real property tax exemption for the water filtration plant for the City of Newburgh, Orange County, New York.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-03 - referred to real property taxation [A00952 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A00952-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 952 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 11, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. JACOBSON -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Real Property Taxation AN ACT providing for a partial real property tax exemption for the water filtration plant for the City of Newburgh, Orange County, New York The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds as follows: 2 a. In 2014, potential contaminants, including Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl 3 Substances (PFAS) were detected in Lake Washington, the primary source 4 for the drinking water supply for the City of Newburgh in Orange County, 5 New York ("the City"). At the time, the level of contamination was at 6 170 ppt, below the 400 ppt limit then recommended by the U.S. Environ- 7 mental Protection Agency ("EPA"). When the EPA set a new level of 70 ppt 8 for short-term exposure in May 2016, the City manager declared an emer- 9 gency. 10 b. The source of contamination was determined to be PFOS- and 11 PFAS-containing firefighting foam used at Stewart Air National Guard 12 Base for training and emergency purposes. In August 2016, Stewart Air 13 National Guard Base was designated as a state Superfund site to hold the 14 U.S. Department of Defense responsible for full site clean-up. 15 c. New York State stepped in to assist with and fund the City's water 16 supply hookup to Brown's Pond and then to the Catskill Aqueduct for a 17 longer term, temporary water source. The State also constructed a granu- 18 lar activated carbon treatment facility ("GAC system") at the City's 19 water filtration plant to remove PFAS from the water in Washington Lake. 20 The GAC system became operational in 2018. 21 d. The City's water filtration plants and the GAC system are located 22 outside the municipal boundaries of the City in the towns of Newburgh 23 and New Windsor in Orange County. Both the county and the town of 24 Newburgh have exempted the City's water supply plants from real property 25 taxation. The City pays real property taxes annually to the town of New EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02596-01-3A. 952 2 1 Windsor, and to the Newburgh Enlarged City School District and the Corn- 2 wall Central School District. 3 e. Following the construction of the GAC system, the town of New Wind- 4 sor reassessed the value of the City's water filtration plant in light 5 of the constructed improvements. The reassessment resulted in a substan- 6 tial increase in the property tax value and, thus, in taxes. The taxes 7 for the Newburgh Enlarged City School District alone rose from 8 $49,604.25 during the 2016-2017 tax assessment year to $303,046.59 9 during the 2018-2019 tax assessment year, an increase of nearly 10 $250,000.00. 11 f. The City has commenced tax certiorari proceedings in the Supreme 12 Court of the State of New York, County of Orange for the 2017-2018 and 13 2018-2019 tax assessment years bearing Orange County Index Nos. 14 EF005922-2017 and EF007932-2018. The City was required to produce a 15 trial-ready property appraisal in September 2019, but those proceedings 16 were adjourned to May 2020, and no appraisal was filed as a result of 17 the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions that closed or signif- 18 icantly curtailed the operation of the New York state court system. 19 During the time such court operations were limited, the City continued 20 to protect its interests by filing tax certiorari proceedings for the 21 subsequent years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 under Orange County Index Nos. 22 EF005909-2019 and EF003957-2020. The City will have to undertake signif- 23 icant additional expenses to resolve the aforementioned tax certiorari 24 proceedings if the tax relief sought cannot be obtained by legislative 25 action. 26 g. But for the PFAS contamination of the City's water supply, the 27 construction of the GAC system as an improvement to the City's water 28 filtration plant property would have been unnecessary. The construction 29 of the GAC system has resulted in unbudgeted and unforeseen costs and 30 expenses to the City through no fault of its own. 31 § 2. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 406 of the real 32 property tax law or any other law, rule or regulation, the City of 33 Newburgh shall be entitled to a partial exemption from real property 34 taxes imposed by the town of New Windsor, the Newburgh Enlarged City 35 School District and the Cornwall Central School District. Such exemption 36 shall be granted to the extent of the increase in the assessment of the 37 water filtration plant property attributable to the construction of the 38 GAC system. 39 b. As a condition of such exemption, the City shall withdraw and 40 discontinue all of its tax certiorari proceedings against the town of 41 New Windsor. 42 c. The town of New Windsor, the Newburgh Enlarged City School District 43 and the Cornwall Central School District shall make appropriate 44 corrections to the subject rolls, provide for the refund of those taxes 45 paid and cancel any taxes, fines, penalties, interest or tax liens 46 remaining unpaid. 47 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
