A 2418: Authorizes the imposition of service charges upon certain real property.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2418 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 16, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BRABENEC -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Real Property Taxation AN ACT to amend the real property tax law, in relation to authorizing the imposition of service charges upon certain real property The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 20 of section 102 of the real property tax law 2 is amended and a new subdivision 13-a is added to read as follows: 3 13-a. "Service charge" means a charge, other than a special ad valorem 4 levy or special assessment, imposed upon real property by or on behalf 5 of a county, city, town or village, to defray the cost of services and 6 improvements necessary or convenient in providing such services for the 7 following purposes: police protection; fire protection; street and high- 8 way construction, maintenance and lighting; sanitation; and water 9 supply. All improvements specified in paragraph (a) of subdivision one 10 of section four hundred ninety of this chapter shall be deemed such 11 improvements. 12 20. "Tax" or "taxation" means a charge imposed upon real property by 13 or on behalf of a county, city, town, village or school district for 14 municipal or school district purposes, including a service charge, but 15 does not include a special ad valorem levy or a special assessment. The 16 term "tax" or "taxes" as used in articles five, nine[, ten] and eleven 17 of this chapter shall for levy and collection purposes include special 18 ad valorem levies. 19 § 2. The real property tax law is amended by adding a new section 403 20 to read as follows: 21 § 403. Limitation on exemptions granted by this title. 1. Notwith- 22 standing the provisions of sections four hundred four and four hundred 23 six of this title, all real property for which exemption is allowed by 24 any of such sections, exclusive of property used exclusively for chari- 25 table, hospital, educational or cemetery purposes, shall be subject to EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01093-01-5 
 A. 2418 2 1 service charges computed as provided in section four hundred ninety-sev- 2 en of this article and to such special ad valorem levies and special 3 assessments as are specified in subdivision two of section four hundred 4 ninety of this article, except that: 5 (a) real property owned by a municipal corporation within its corpo- 6 rate limits which is otherwise exempt from taxation shall be exempt from 7 any such service charge, special ad valorem levy or special assessment 8 imposed by or on behalf of such municipal corporation; or 9 (b) real property owned by a municipal corporation not within its 10 corporate limits which is otherwise exempt from taxation, either wholly 11 or partially, shall be exempt from any such service charge, special ad 12 valorem levy or special assessment imposed by or on behalf of any munic- 13 ipal corporation in which such property is located, provided the govern- 14 ing board thereof shall so agree in writing. 15 2. To the extent that the provisions of this section are inconsistent 16 with any other provision of law, the provisions of this section shall be 17 controlling. 18 § 3. Title 2 of article 4 of the real property tax law is amended by 19 adding a new section 420 to read as follows: 20 § 420. Limitation on exemptions granted by this title. 1. Notwith- 21 standing the provisions of sections four hundred twenty-one-a, four 22 hundred twenty-four through four hundred twenty-eight, four hundred 23 thirty-two, four hundred thirty-four, four hundred thirty-eight through 24 four hundred forty-four, four hundred fifty, four hundred fifty-two, 25 four hundred sixty-four, four hundred seventy-two, four hundred seven- 26 ty-four, four hundred eighty-six and four hundred eighty-eight of this 27 title; real property for which exemption is allowed by any such 28 sections, exclusive of property owned by a corporation or association 29 organized or conducted exclusively for religious, charitable, hospital, 30 educational or cemetery purposes, shall be subject to service charges 31 computed as provided in section four hundred ninety-eight of this arti- 32 cle and to such ad valorem levies and special assessments as are speci- 33 fied in subdivision two of section four hundred ninety of this chapter. 34 2. To the extent that the provisions of this section are inconsistent 35 with any other provision of law, the provisions of this section shall be 36 controlling. 37 § 4. Section 490 of the real property tax law, as amended by section 2 38 of part AA of chapter 59 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as 39 follows: 40 § 490. Exemption from special ad valorem levies and special assess- 41 ments. [Real] 1. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision two of 42 this section, real property exempt from taxation pursuant to subdivision 43 two of section four hundred, subdivision one of section four hundred 44 four, subdivision one of section four hundred six, sections four hundred 45 eight, four hundred ten, four hundred ten-a, four hundred ten-b, four 46 hundred eighteen, four hundred twenty-a, four hundred twenty-b, four 47 hundred twenty-two, four hundred twenty-six, four hundred twenty-seven, 48 four hundred twenty-eight, four hundred thirty, four hundred thirty-two, 49 four hundred thirty-four, four hundred thirty-six, four hundred thirty- 50 eight, four hundred fifty, four hundred fifty-two, four hundred fifty- 51 four, four hundred fifty-six, four hundred sixty-four, four hundred 52 seventy-two, four hundred seventy-four, four hundred eighty-five and 53 subdivision ten of section four hundred eighty-seven of this [chapter] 54 article shall also be exempt from special ad valorem levies and special 55 assessments against real property located outside cities and villages 56 for a special improvement or service or a special district improvement 
 A. 2418 3 1 or service and special ad valorem levies and special assessments imposed 2 by a county improvement district or district corporation except [(1)] 3 (a) those levied to pay for the costs, including interest and incidental 4 and preliminary costs, of the acquisition, installation, construction, 5 reconstruction and enlargement of or additions to the following improve- 6 ments, including original equipment, furnishings, machinery or appara- 7 tus, and the replacements thereof: water supply and distribution 8 systems; sewer systems (either sanitary or surface drainage or both, 9 including purification, treatment or disposal plants or buildings); 10 waterways and drainage improvements; street, highway, road and parkway 11 improvements (including sidewalks, curbs, gutters, drainage, landscap- 12 ing, grading or improving the right of way) and [(2)] (b) special 13 assessments payable in installments on an indebtedness including inter- 14 est contracted prior to July first, nineteen hundred fifty-three, pursu- 15 ant to section two hundred forty-two of the town law or pursuant to any 16 other comparable provision of law. 17 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section, 18 real property subject to service charges as provided in section four 19 hundred three or four hundred twenty of this article shall also be 20 subject to special ad valorem levies and special assessments imposed to 21 defray the cost, including operation and maintenance, of special 22 district improvements or services or of special improvements or services 23 for the following purposes: police protection; fire protection; street 24 and highway construction, maintenance and lighting; sanitation; and 25 water supply. All improvements specified in paragraph (a) of subdivision 26 one of this section shall be deemed such improvements. 27 § 5. The real property tax law is amended by adding a new section 498 28 to read as follows: 29 § 498. Service charges. 1. Any service charge to which any real prop- 30 erty may be subject as provided in section four hundred three or section 31 four hundred twenty of this article shall be imposed at a rate computed 32 as provided in subdivision three of this section. 33 2. For the purposes of this section, "chargeable services and improve- 34 ments" means services, and improvements necessary or convenient in 35 providing such services, for the following purposes: police protection; 36 fire protection; street and highway construction, maintenance and light- 37 ing; sanitation; and water supply. All improvements specified in para- 38 graph (a) of subdivision one of section four hundred ninety of this 39 title shall be deemed chargeable improvements. 40 3. The amount of the service charge shall be determined as follows: 41 (a) The service charge shall be based on the assessed value of the tax 42 exempt real property and the amount which the county, city or town or 43 village expended, in the year preceding the year in which such charge is 44 assessed, for chargeable services and improvements. Any amount received 45 from federal or state aid specifically designated for the above-men- 46 tioned purposes shall not be considered in determining the cost of 47 providing such services for the real property. The expenditures for 48 services not provided for certain real property shall not be considered 49 in the calculation of the service charge for such real property, nor 50 shall such expenditures be considered when a service is currently funded 51 by another special ad valorem levy or special assessment. 52 (b) The service charge rate for the tax-exempt property shall be 53 determined by dividing the expenditures determined pursuant to paragraph 54 (a) of this subdivision by the assessed value of all real property 55 located within the county, city, town or village imposing the service 56 charge, including nontaxable property. 
 A. 2418 4 1 (c) The resulting rate shall then be applied to the assessed valuation 2 of the tax exempt property subject to service charges to determine the 3 amount of such charges. 4 (d) Under no circumstances shall the amount of such service charge 5 exceed ten percent of the property tax liability if the property were 6 subject to taxation. 7 4. The provisions of this section shall not authorize the imposition 8 of any service charge, special ad valorem levy or special assessment by 9 any municipal corporation on real property otherwise exempt by law from 10 taxation unless the governing board of such municipal corporation shall 11 previously, after public hearing, have adopted a local law, ordinance or 12 resolution electing to make the provisions of this section applicable. 13 For the purposes of this section, governing board, with respect to the 14 city of New York, shall mean the board of estimate of the city of New 15 York. 16 § 6. This act shall take effect on the first of April of the calendar 17 year next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law, and 18 shall apply to all assessments made with reference to a taxable status 19 date which falls on or after such effective date.