S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ S. 4539--C A. 7792--C 2009-2010 Regular Sessions S E N A T E - A S S E M B L Y April 24, 2009 ___________ IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered print- ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Govern- ment -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. THIELE, ALESSI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local Governments -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee with amend- ments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the town law, in relation to payments for certain school, fire, fire protection, and ambulance districts for lands exempt from real property taxation for purposes which implement the Peconic Bay community preservation fund, and permitting the town of Southampton to make such payments in certain cases; and providing for the repeal of certain provisions upon expiration thereof THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 64-e of the town law, as amended 2 by chapter 373 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows: 3 3. The purposes of the fund shall be exclusively, (a) to implement a 4 plan for the preservation of community character as required by this 5 section, (b) to acquire interests or rights in real property for the 6 preservation of community character within the town including villages 7 therein in accordance with such plan and in cooperation with willing 8 sellers, (c) to establish a bank pursuant to a transfer of development EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02557-11-9 S. 4539--C 2 A. 7792--C 1 rights program consistent with section two hundred sixty-one-a of this 2 chapter, (d) to provide a management and stewardship program for such 3 interests and rights consistent with subdivisions nine and nine-a of 4 this section and in accordance with such plan designed to preserve 5 community character; provided that not more than ten percent of the fund 6 shall be utilized for the management and stewardship program[, and (e) 7 to make payments to fire, fire protection and ambulance districts in 8 connection with lands owned by the state or any municipal corporation 9 within the central pine barrens area as defined in subdivision ten of 10 section 57-0107 of the environmental conservation law. Such payments may 11 only be made to districts where more than twenty-five percent of the 12 assessed value of such district is wholly exempt from real property 13 taxation pursuant to the real property tax law because it is owned by 14 the state or a municipal corporation. Not more than ten percent of the 15 fund may be used for said purpose in any calendar year. School districts 16 shall also be eligible for such payments, provided (1) that real proper- 17 ty within such school district has been made wholly exempt from real 18 property taxation pursuant to the real property tax law to effectuate 19 the purposes of the fund, and (2) such school district is determined to 20 be a high need or average need school district pursuant to the need 21 resource capacity index established by the state education department. 22 Such payments from the fund shall not exceed the actual tax liability 23 that would have been due if such lands of the state or of a municipal 24 corporation had been subject to real property taxation. Where more than 25 one district is eligible for such a payment under this provision, and 26 such payment is less than the actual tax liability that would have been 27 due if such lands of the state or a municipal corporation had been 28 subject to real property taxation, the town shall apportion such annual 29 payment on the basis of the total tax levied by each district within the 30 town for the year such payment is made. Such payment made by the town 31 shall be used solely to reduce the property tax liability of the remain- 32 ing taxpayers of the district within said town]. If the implementation 33 of the community preservation project plan, adopted by a town board, as 34 provided in subdivision six of this section, has been completed, and 35 funds are no longer needed for the purposes outlined in this subdivi- 36 sion, then any remaining monies in the fund shall be applied to reduce 37 any bonded indebtedness or obligations incurred to effectuate the 38 purposes of this section. 39 S 2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the town of 40 Southampton may make annual payments from its community preservation 41 fund to certain high-tax school, fire, fire protection, and ambulance 42 districts, listed in this section, located either wholly or partially 43 within the central pine barrens area as defined in subdivision 10 of 44 section 57-0107 of the environmental conservation law. Such payments 45 may be made to mitigate the impact of the loss tax revenues from lands 46 made wholly exempt as a result of their acquisition by the federal, 47 state, or local government for the preservation of community character 48 as defined in subdivision 4 of section 64-e of the town law. The follow- 49 ing districts shall be eligible: Riverhead School District, Hampton Bays 50 School District, Eastport-South Manor School District, Riverhead Fire 51 District, Flanders Fire District, Flanders - Northampton Ambulance 52 District. 53 S 3. Such payments made by the town of Southampton pursuant to this 54 act shall only be made for lands within such districts which are wholly 55 exempt from real property taxation pursuant to the real property tax law 56 that have been acquired by the federal government, state government, or S. 4539--C 3 A. 7792--C 1 a municipal corporation for community preservation purposes pursuant to 2 section 64-e of the town law, whether or not said lands were actually 3 acquired with community preservation funds. For the purposes of deter- 4 mining the payment to each eligible district, each eligible parcel shall 5 be assessed in the same manner as state lands, as provided for in subdi- 6 vision one of section 542 of the real property tax law. Such assess- 7 ments shall be approved by the state board of real property services in 8 the same manner as state lands, as provided for in subdivision 3 of 9 section 542 of the real property tax law. Such eligible parcels shall 10 be reassessed annually. The town shall apply each eligible district's 11 tax rate to determine the maximum payment for each eligible parcel in 12 that district. 13 S 4. Where the total annual budget appropriation by the town for the 14 payments provided for by this act is less than the aggregate payments 15 for all districts, then the town shall apportion such annual payment for 16 each district based on a percentage calculated as a proportion of each 17 district's payment to the aggregate of payments to all districts. In 18 such case, each district shall receive its proportional share of the 19 budget appropriation. Such payment made by the town shall be used sole- 20 ly to reduce the property tax liability of the remaining taxpayers of 21 the district within such town. Not more than 10 percent of the fund 22 collected in any fiscal year may be used for the purpose outlined in 23 this section. The last fiscal year for which twelve full months of 24 collected revenue is available shall be used to determine the maximum 25 appropriation permitted by this section. The maximum percentage of the 26 fund to be appropriated for such payments for any year or years may be 27 reduced below 10 percent by an election upon proposition pursuant to 28 section 81 of the town law. 29 S 5. The town board shall adopt an annual plan before the payments 30 authorized by this act may be made. No monies from the fund shall be 31 expended for such payments, except as approved in said plan. Said plan 32 shall specify each parcel eligible for a payment and shall provide for 33 the amount of payment for each eligible parcel for the current fiscal 34 year as well as an estimate for the following fiscal year. In addition, 35 such plan shall provide the assessed value of each eligible parcel. Said 36 plan shall be approved and adopted by the town board after a public 37 hearing. 38 S 6. All local laws enacted by the town of Southampton pursuant to 39 chapter 250 of the laws of 2002 and chapter 531 of the laws of 2007, are 40 hereby legalized, validated, ratified, and confirmed. All appropri- 41 ations by the town of Southampton to the Riverhead school district, 42 Hampton Bays school district, Eastport-South Manor school district, 43 Riverhead fire district, Flanders fire district, Flanders - Northampton 44 ambulance district pursuant to paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 45 64-e of the town law for the years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 are hereby 46 legalized, validated, ratified, and confirmed, provided that the town of 47 Southampton shall repay to its community preservation fund, established 48 pursuant to subdivision 2 of section 64-e of the town law, an amount 49 equal to the aggregate overpayments made to the aforementioned school 50 and special districts for the years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, includ- 51 ing overpayments resulting from the incorrect assessment of lands eligi- 52 ble for payments, pursuant to paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 53 64-e of the town law. The state comptroller shall review, confirm and 54 certify the amount of such overpayments. Within thirty days of such 55 certification, the town board of the town of Southampton shall prepare a 56 repayment plan and submit such plan to the state comptroller for S. 4539--C 4 A. 7792--C 1 approval or approval with modifications. The state comptroller shall act 2 to approve or approve with modifications within thirty days of 3 submission of the repayment plan by the town of Southampton. The town 4 shall implement the repayment plan as approved or approved with modifi- 5 cations by the state comptroller. 6 S 7. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the 7 provisions of sections two, three, four, five and six of this act shall 8 remain in full force and effect until December 31, 2030 when upon such 9 date, the provisions of such sections shall expire and be deemed 10 repealed.