§ 485-a. Residential-commercial urban exemption program. 1.
Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have
the following meanings:

(a) "Municipality" means any town, city or village except for a city
having more than one million inhabitants.

(b) "Applicant" means any person obligated to pay real property taxes
on the property for which an exemption from real property taxes under
this section is sought.

(c) "Commercial construction work" means the modernization,
rehabilitation, expansion or other improvement of the portion of
mixed-use property to be used for commercial purposes.

(d) "Commercial purpose or use" means (i) the buying, selling or
otherwise providing of goods or services directly to the public; or (ii)
a non-residential lawful use including, but not limited to, an office,
hotel, retail store, brewery, distillery, restaurant, cafe, bar or
tavern, gymnasium, theater, or entertainment venue which employs or is
anticipated to employ a minimum of five employees primarily at the
mixed-use property for which an exemption under this section is sought.

(e) "Mixed-use property" means property on which will exist, after
completion of residential construction work or a combination of
residential construction work and commercial construction work, a
building or structure used for both residential and commercial purposes
of which, at least forty percent of the building or structure's square
footage is devoted to residential purposes or use and at least fifteen
percent of the building or structure's square footage is devoted to
commercial purposes or use.

(f) "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability
company, partnership, association, agency, trust, estate, foreign or
domestic government or subdivision thereof, or other entity.

(g) "Residential construction work" means the creation, modernization,
rehabilitation, expansion or other improvement of dwelling units, other
than dwelling units in a hotel, in the portion of mixed-use property to
be used for residential purposes.

(h) "Story above grade" means any story having its finished floor
surface entirely above grade.

(i) "Grade" shall mean the finished ground level adjoining the
building at all exterior walls.

2. Any municipality may, by local law, provide for the exemption of
real property from taxation as provided in this section. Upon the
adoption of such a local law, the county in which such municipality is
located may, by local law, and any school district, all or part of which
is located in such municipality, may, by resolution, exempt such
property from its taxation in the same manner and to the same extent as
such municipality has done.

3. Upon the adoption of such a local law, non-residential real
property, upon conversion to mixed-use property, shall be exempt from
taxation and special ad valorem levies as provided for in subdivision
four of this section.

4. (a) (i) For a period of twelve years from the approval of an
application, the increase in assessed value of such property
attributable to such conversion shall be exempt as provided in
subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph. Such exemption shall be computed
with respect to the "exemption base". The exemption base shall be
determined for each year in which there is an increase in assessed value
so attributable from that of the previous year's assessed value.

(ii) The following table shall illustrate the computation of the tax
exemption:

Year of exemption Percentage of exemption

1 through 8 100% of exemption base

9 80% of exemption base

10 60% of exemption base

11 40% of exemption base

12 20% of exemption base

(b) No such exemption shall be granted unless:

(i) such conversion was commenced subsequent to the date on which the
municipality's local law took effect; and

(ii) the cost of such conversion exceeds the sum of ten thousand
dollars or such greater amount as may be specified by local law.

(c) For purposes of this section the term conversion shall not include
ordinary maintenance and repairs.

(d) No such exemption shall be granted concurrent with or subsequent
to any other real property tax exemption granted to the same
improvements to real property, except, where during the period of such
previous exemption, payments in lieu of taxes or other payments were
made to the local government in an amount that would have been equal to
or greater than the amount of real property taxes that would have been
paid on such improvements had such property been granted an exemption
pursuant to this section. In such case, an exemption shall be granted
for a number of years equal to the twelve year exemption granted
pursuant to this section less the number of years the property would
have been previously exempt from real property taxes.

5. Such exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner
of such real property on a form prescribed by the commissioner. Such
application shall be filed with the assessor of the municipality or
county having the power to assess property for taxation on or before the
appropriate taxable status date of such municipality or county.

6. If the assessor is satisfied that the applicant is entitled to an
exemption pursuant to this section, he or she shall approve the
application and such real property shall be exempt from taxation and
special ad valorem levies as in this section provided. The assessed
value of any exemption granted pursuant to this section shall be entered
by the assessor on the assessment roll with the taxable property, with
the amount of the exemption shown in a separate column.

7. (a) During the period of exemption pursuant to this section, the
owner shall submit an annual certification to the assessor attesting
that the property complies with the provisions or requirements of this
section and any additional provisions or requirements as may be provided
by local law. Failure to submit such certification shall result in
revocation of benefits. Such certification shall include at a minimum
the following:

(i) the types of residential use and the total above-grade square
footage and below-grade square footage of such use;

(ii) the types of commercial use and the total above-grade square
footage and below-grade square footage of such use;

(iii) attestation that the portion of the building used for commercial
purposes is currently, as demonstrated by documentation submitted by the
applicant, used as such or is in good faith contemplated to be used as
such;

(iv) the specific address of the entrance through which the public
enters the portion of the building used for commercial purposes;

(v) if the portion of the building intended to be used for commercial
purposes is not currently in active use for such purposes and open to
the public, the reasons why it is not currently being used for
commercial purposes and open to the public; and

(vi) all such other information required by the municipality.

(b) If the assessor is satisfied that the applicant continues to be
entitled to the exemption pursuant to this section, the assessor shall
approve the certification and the real property shall remain exempt from
taxation and special ad valorem levies for another year as provided in
this section.

8. (a) The benefits of this section shall be revoked upon a finding by
the assessor that:

(i) the application for benefits hereunder or the annual certification
required hereunder contains a false statement or false information as to
a material matter or omits a material matter;

(ii) the eligible real property fails to comply with one or more of
the provisions or requirements of this section or any provisions or
requirements provided by local law; or

(iii) the portion of the property devoted to commercial purposes has
not been in active use for commercial purposes and open to the public
for three consecutive years.

(b) Such revocation shall require the repayment of any benefits
previously granted pursuant to this section for any year during which
the property was non-compliant or the application or annual
certification contained a false statement or false information as to a
material matter or omitted a material matter.

(c) No benefits may be revoked unless the applicant has been given
thirty days' notice of such revocation and has been given reasonable
notice to cure any failure to comply with the provisions of requirements
of this section.

9. If the assessor determines that there was a material misstatement
in an application filed by or on behalf of the owners for an exemption
pursuant to this section and that such misstatement provided the basis
for the granting of such exemption, the municipality shall proceed to
impose a penalty on the applicant of one thousand dollars in addition to
recovering the amount of any prior exemption granted.