NY State Senate Bill 2025-S6489

Senate Bill S6489

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to requiring the school district of East Ramapo to refund to taxpayers excess school taxes collected

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Local Government Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 14, 2025	referred to local government

2025-S6489 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6313
Current Committee:: Senate Local Government
Law Section:: Real Property Taxation

2025-S6489 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the tax levying body of East Ramapo and the East Ramapo Central School District to refund 2024-2025 school taxes collected as a result of an erroneous assertion that the district was facing a severe budget deficit.

2025-S6489 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6489

SPONSOR: WEBER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act in relation to requiring the school district of East Ramapo to
refund to taxpayers excess school taxes collected

 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act in relation to requiring the school district of East Ramapo to
refund to taxpayers excess school taxes collected

 
PURPOSE:

To ensure that taxpayers in the East Ramapo Central School District
receive a refund for excess school taxes collected as a result of an
erroneous tax levy increase for the 2024-2025 school year.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1.- Legislative findings and intent:

*Details the circumstances surrounding the erroneous tax levy increase
for the 2024-2025 school year in the East Ramapo Central School
District.

*Relying on an assertion that the district was facing a severe budget
deficit, the commissioner of education for the state of New York
directed the East Ramapo Central School District to raise the school tax
levy by an additional 4.38%, bringing the total tax levy hike to 5.38%.
The increase resulted in the collection of more than $6,000;000 in
school taxes.

*Discusses the discovery of significant unrestricted surplus funds,
estimated to be as high as $100,000,000, and the legislative determi-
nation that taxpayers should be refunded in full.

Section 2 - Refund of Excess Taxes:

*Mandates that the tax levying body of East Ramapo refund each taxpayer
the excess school tax paid beyond the originally proposed 1% increase.

*Requires that refunds be made available from the surplus funds held by
the town and the school district.

*Directs that all refunds be paid within 90 days of the effective date
of the act.

*Waives the requirement for taxpayers to submit applications to receive
their refunds.

Section 3 - Reporting Requirement:

*Requires that within 120 days of the effective date of the act, the
town of Ramapo and the East Ramapo Central School District provide a
detailed report of the refund disbursement to state officials and legis-
lative bodies.

*Mandates that the report be published in full on the websites of the
East Ramapo Central School District and the town of Ramapo.

Section 4 - Oversight and Enforcement:  *Directs the state comptroller
and the Department of Education to monitor the refund process and take
necessary actions to ensure compliance.

*Establishes that failure to comply with the provisions of the act shall
result in penalties as prescribed by applicable law.

Section 5 - Effective Date:

*The act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The residents of the East Ramapo Central School District were subjected
to an undue financial burden due to a miscalculated and unnecessary tax
levy increase. The directive to increase the school tax levy was based
on an asserted budget deficit that was later found to be inaccurate, as
external audits revealed substantial unrestricted surplus funds, poten-
tially amounting to $100,000,000.

Taxpayers should not be forced to shoulder an excessive financial obli-
gation resulting from mismanagement or incorrect budgetary assumptions.
This bill ensures that residents receive a full refund of the excess
school taxes paid, without requiring them to file an application, there-
by streamlining the refund process. Additionally, it provides necessary
oversight by state agencies to guarantee compliance and transparency in
the disbursement of funds.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

The bill mandates that refunds be issued from existing surplus funds,
ensuring no additional fiscal burden on taxpayers or state resources.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S6489 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6489
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  WEBER  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
 
 AN ACT in relation to requiring the school district of  East  Ramapo  to
   refund to taxpayers excess school taxes collected
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. In 2024, the school  board
 of the East Ramapo Central School District voted for an increase of 1.0%
 for  the  2024-2025 school district budget. Relying on an assertion that
 the district was facing a severe budget  deficit,  the  commissioner  of
 education  for  the  state  of New York directed the East Ramapo Central
 School District to raise the school tax levy  by  an  additional  4.38%,
 bringing  the total tax levy hike to 5.38%. The increase resulted in the
 collection of more than $6,000,000 in school taxes.  A short time later,
 an external audit  of  East  Ramapo's  financing  turned  up  more  than
 $30,000,000 in unrestricted funds, a shock to school district officials,
 the school board and residents. Subsequent inquiry has revealed that the
 surplus  may be as high as $100,000,000.  The legislature finds that the
 tax levy imposed for  the  2024-2025  school  taxes  was  erroneous  and
 declares that the excess funds should be refunded in full to the taxpay-
 ers who paid them.
   §  2.  Pursuant  to the provisions of title 3 of article 5 of the real
 property tax law, the tax levying body of East Ramapo  shall  refund  to
 each person the amount of school tax erroneously paid by such person, or
 that  portion thereof in excess of the tax that should have been paid in
 connection with the 2024-2025 school tax had the increase  in  such  tax
 been  calculated  utilizing  the  originally  proposed 1% increase. This
 refund shall be made available from the surplus funds held by  the  town
 and the school district. All refunds shall be paid within ninety days of
 the effective date of this act. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdi-
 vision 1 of section 556 of the real property tax law, no person entitled
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10413-02-5

 S. 6489                             2
 
 to a refund of such tax shall be required to submit an application for a
 refund of such amounts.
   § 3. No later than one hundred twenty days after the effective date of
 this act, the town of Ramapo and the East Ramapo Central School District
 shall provide a detailed report of the refund disbursement to the gover-
 nor,  the  majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the Assembly,
 the Senate and Assembly standing committees on education, and the  state
 comptroller.  The  report shall be made available in full on the website
 of the East Ramapo Central School District and the website of  the  town
 of Ramapo.
   § 4. The state comptroller and the state Department of Education shall
 monitor  the  refund  process  and  to take appropriate action to ensure
 compliance with the provisions of this act. Any failure to  comply  with
 the  provisions  of  this  act shall be subject to penalties as provided
 under applicable law.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.