Much transpired in 2011 in the fields of tax certiorari, eminent domain and real property tax exemptions. First and foremost was the passage of §3-c of the General Municipal Law also known as the “real property tax levy cap for local governments except the city of New York.” In addition, the courts addressed a variety of issues including the constitutionality of the Real Property Tax Law article 18, the legality of Nassau County’s retroactive reassessment program based upon post tax status date improvements, tax exemptions for a religious art center, an Islamic school and a home for the at risk and homeless, eminent domain proceedings and the highest and best use doctrine.
Game Changer
On June 30, 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the tax cap statute which seeks to “control the ever-rising property tax by limiting the amount by which entities (e.g., schools and local governments) may increase property taxes each year.”1 The statute, §3-c of General Municipal Law, provides, inter alia, that (1) “No local government may increase its property tax levy by more than 2 percent or the rate of inflation (whichever is less), (2) “A local government may exceed the tax levy cap if the governing body enacts, by a two-thirds vote, a local law…overriding the tax levy cap” and (3) “The cap will have limited exceptions.” There are corresponding changes in applicable provisions of the Education Law. The concept of a tax levy cap2 as noted by Governor Cuomo seeks to help taxpayers by imposing:
