§ 485. Nuclear powered electric generating facilities. 1. Nuclear
powered electric generating facilities shall be exempt from taxation,
special ad valorem levies and special assessments to the extent provided
in section four hundred ninety of this article upon the adoption of a
local law granting such exemption by the legislative body of the county,
city, town or village in which such a facility is located or by
resolution following a public hearing of the governing body of the
school district in which such facility or facilities are located,
provided the taxing district may only exempt the facility from real
property taxes imposed by the taxing district granting the exemption.
The local law or resolution shall state the date on which such exemption
shall commence. A copy of such local law or resolution shall be filed no
later than thirty days after the adoption thereof with the clerk of each
municipal corporation in which the facility is located and with the
commissioner. For purposes of this section, nuclear powered electric
generating facility shall mean a facility that generates or formerly
generated electricity using nuclear power for sale, directly or
indirectly, to the public, including the land upon which the facility is
located, any equipment used in such generation, and equipment leading
from the facility to the interconnection with the electric transmission
system, but shall not include any equipment in the electric transmission
system.

2. (a) If a taxing district and an owner of a nuclear powered electric
generating facility have not signed an agreement for payments in lieu of
taxes by the date specified in the resolution or local law, or if an
owner and a taxing district agree to cancel such an agreement, or if
such an agreement does not apply to an assessment roll upon which a
facility is wholly exempt from taxation pursuant to this section, the
owner of such facility shall be obliged to make payments in lieu of
taxes in the base amount, or in the base amount as adjusted pursuant to
the provisions of paragraph (c) of this subdivision.

(b) The base amount shall be the taxes levied against the facility on
the last assessment roll on which the facility was assessed as taxable
real property, or in the case of a special district, the special ad
valorem levies or special assessments levied against or charged to the
facility on that assessment roll. However, if no taxes or special ad
valorem levies were or will be levied against the facility within one
year of the effective date of the local law or resolution authorizing
the exemption, the base amount shall be the taxes or special ad valorem
levies that would have been levied against the facility on the
assessment roll based on the first taxable status date occurring on or
before the effective date of the local law or resolution, assuming that
the facility had been taxable on that assessment roll, and that the
applicable tax rate had been determined accordingly. For purposes of
this section, the assessment roll which is used to determine the base
amount pursuant to this paragraph shall be referred to as the "base
assessment roll."

(c) The base amount for payments on the current assessment roll shall
be adjusted as follows:

(i) by the percentage change between the assessment of the facility on
the current roll and on the base assessment roll, adjusted for any
change in level of assessment as defined in section twelve hundred of
this chapter;

(ii) in the case of a municipal corporation, by the percentage change
between the total amount of taxes levied against all taxable real
property on the current roll and on the base assessment roll by that
municipal corporation;

(iii) in the case of a special district, by the percentage change
between the total amount of special ad valorem levies and special
assessments imposed against all taxable real property on the current
roll and on the base assessment roll by that special district; and

(iv) if the municipal corporation also contains a nuclear powered
electric generating facility which had been wholly exempt from taxation
on the base assessment roll pursuant to section one thousand twelve of
the public authorities law but which is no longer eligible for that
exemption due to a change in ownership, the base amount shall be
adjusted to reflect the fact that the formerly exempt facility is now
either subject to taxation or liable to make payments in lieu of taxes
pursuant to this section, as the case may be.

(d) In the event the facility was not taxable on a prior assessment
roll, and no exemption is then in effect, the assessor of each assessing
unit in which the facility is located is hereby authorized to
immediately subject the facility to taxation in the manner prescribed by
section five hundred twenty of this chapter.

(e) For assessment rolls with taxable status dates on or after January
first, two thousand thirty-one, or such earlier year as may be specified
in the local law or resolution authorizing the exemption, the exemption
provided by this section shall no longer apply and any agreement for
payments in lieu of taxes for any facility theretofore exempt pursuant
to this section shall no longer be in effect. Upon the request of the
assessor of an assessing unit containing a nuclear powered electric
generating facility, the commissioner shall provide an advisory
appraisal of such facility for use on the municipal assessment roll with
a taxable status date on or after January first, two thousand
thirty-one.

(f) Nothing herein shall be deemed to prevent the owner of a nuclear
powered electric generating facility from seeking judicial review of an
assessment pursuant to article seven of this chapter. Any determination
of the proper assessment of a facility as a result of such a proceeding
shall be reflected in any payment in lieu of taxes including the refund
of such payments, as provided in the judgment and order of the court.

3. The owner of a nuclear powered electric generating facility shall
enter into an agreement with each taxing district which grants the
facility the exemption providing for payments in lieu of taxes to be
made for no longer than the period during which the facility is exempt
pursuant to this section. Any such agreement must be filed with the
commissioner and the clerk of each municipal corporation in which the
facility is located within thirty days of being executed. Nothing herein
shall be deemed to invalidate any existing agreement for payments in
lieu of taxes.

4. Any agreement for payments in lieu of taxes pursuant to this
section may be negotiated at any time. Before an agreement for payments
in lieu of taxes is executed by a taxing district, such taxing district
must hold a public hearing on the proposed agreement.

5. Any payments in lieu of taxes to be made to a taxing district under
this section shall be credited to the amount to be raised in taxes
before determining the tax rates for each taxing district.

6. When a school district receives payments in lieu of taxes from a
nuclear powered electric generating facility, any actual valuation
computed for such school district pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision
one of section thirty-six hundred two of the education law shall include
the actual valuation equivalent of those payments. The commissioner
shall determine such actual valuation equivalent by dividing the payment
made, as reported to such commissioner by the commissioner of education,
by the school tax rate that was applied to real property on that year's
assessment roll or, if applicable, the special apportionment rate
determined pursuant to section twelve hundred twenty-seven of this
chapter and dividing such result by the final state equalization rate
for that roll. The actual valuation equivalent shall be reported to the
state comptroller and the commissioner of education, and shall be used
by the commissioner of education in the determination of any state
average that uses real property taxes levied against and/or actual
valuation based upon the corresponding assessment roll. Each school
district receiving payments in lieu of taxes for nuclear powered
electric generating facilities shall annually report those payments to
the commissioner of education, with a copy to the commissioner, as a
condition to receiving any aid pursuant to section thirty-six hundred
two of the education law.

7. Payments in lieu of taxes made pursuant to this section are not
taxes and shall not be apportioned to any part of a taxing district in
the apportionment of taxes.

8. Facilities exempt from taxation pursuant to subdivision one of this
section shall not be deemed taxable real property for purposes of any
equalization rate, product, study or survey conducted or established
pursuant to article twelve of this chapter or any other provision of
law.

9. Any payments in lieu of taxes made pursuant to this section shall
be paid prior to the expiration of the warrant for collection of the
taxes in lieu of which such payments are to be made and of the
interest-free period prescribed by law, and the agreement shall so
provide. If payments are not made within such period, they shall be
subject to the same interest and penalties as unpaid taxes. If the
payments remain unpaid, the official to whom the payments are to be made
shall present a statement to that effect to the appropriate tax levying
body on or before a date specified by such body for that purpose. Such
body shall levy against the facility the amount contained in such
statement, together with all applicable interest and penalties, at the
same time and in the same manner as taxes. The amounts so levied shall
be collected and enforced in the same manner and at the same time as may
be provided by law for the collection and enforcement of taxes,
notwithstanding the fact that the facility is otherwise wholly exempt
from taxation.

10. When restrictions have been imposed upon changing future
assessments of a facility pursuant to the provisions of either section
seven hundred twenty-seven of this chapter or a formal agreement between
the parties, and the facility becomes exempt pursuant to this section,
such restrictions shall apply to future assessments of the facility to
the same extent as if it had not become exempt pursuant to this section.

11. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable in a
special assessing unit.