§ 253-i. Recording tax imposed by the county of Columbia. 1. Columbia
county, acting through its local legislative body, is hereby authorized
and empowered to adopt and amend local laws imposing in such county a
tax of fifty cents for each one hundred dollars and each remaining major
fraction thereof of principal debt or obligation which is or under any
contingency may be secured at the date of execution thereof, or at any
time thereafter, by a mortgage on real property situated within such
county and recorded on or after the date upon which such tax takes
effect and a tax of fifty cents on such mortgage if the principal debt
or obligation which is or by any contingency may be secured by such
mortgage is less than one hundred dollars.

2. The taxes imposed under the authority of this section shall be
administered and collected in the same manner as the taxes imposed under
subdivision one of section two hundred fifty-three and paragraph (b) of
subdivision one of section two hundred fifty-five of this article.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, all the provisions of this
article relating to or applicable to the administration and collection
of the taxes imposed by such subdivisions shall apply to the taxes
imposed under the authority of this section with such modifications as
may be necessary to adapt such language to the tax so authorized. Such
provisions shall apply with the same force and effect as if those
provisions had been set forth in full in this section except to the
extent that any provision is either inconsistent with a provision of
this section or not relevant to the tax authorized by this section. For
purposes of this section, any reference in this article to the tax or
taxes imposed by this article shall be deemed to refer to a tax imposed
pursuant to this section, and any reference to the phrase "within this
state" shall be read as "within Columbia county", unless a different
meaning is clearly required.

3. Where the real property covered by the mortgage subject to the tax
imposed pursuant to the authority of this section is situated in this
state but within and without the county imposing such tax, the amount of
such tax due and payable to such county shall be determined in a manner
similar to that prescribed in the first paragraph of section two hundred
sixty of this article which concerns real property situated in two or
more counties. Where such property is situated both within such county
and without the state, the amount due and payable to such county shall
be determined in the manner prescribed in the second paragraph of such
section two hundred sixty which concerns property situated within and
without the state. Where real property is situated within and without
the county imposing such tax, the recording officer of the jurisdiction
in which the mortgage is first recorded shall be required to collect the
taxes imposed pursuant to this section.

4. A tax imposed pursuant to the authority of this section shall be in
addition to the taxes imposed by section two hundred fifty-three of this
article.

5. Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, the
balance of all moneys paid to the recording officer of the county of
Columbia during each month upon account of the tax imposed pursuant to
the authority of this section, after deducting the necessary expenses of
his or her office as provided in section two hundred sixty-two of this
article, except taxes paid upon mortgages which under the provisions of
this section or section two hundred sixty of this article are first to
be apportioned by the commissioner, shall be paid over by such officer
on or before the tenth day of each succeeding month to the Columbia
county treasurer and, after the deduction by the Columbia county
treasurer of the necessary expenses of his or her office provided in
section two hundred sixty-two of this article shall be deposited in the
general fund of the county of Columbia for expenditure on any county
purpose. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding sentence, the
tax so imposed and paid upon mortgages covering real property situated
in two or more counties, which under the provisions of this section or
section two hundred sixty of this article are first to be apportioned by
the commissioner, shall be paid over by the recording officer receiving
the same as provided by the determination of said commissioner.

6. Each enactment of a local law may provide for the imposition of a
mortgage tax for a period of time no longer than three years from the
date of its enactment. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the
adoption and enactment of local laws, pursuant to the provisions of this
section, upon the expiration of any other local law adopted pursuant to
this section.

7. Any local law imposing a tax pursuant to the authority of this
section or repealing or suspending such a tax shall take effect only on
the first day of a calendar month. Such a local law shall not be
effective unless a certified copy thereof is mailed by registered or
certified mail to the commissioner at the commissioner's office in
Albany at least thirty days prior to the date the local law shall take
effect.

8. Certified copies of any local law described in this section shall
also be filed with the county clerk of the county of Columbia, the
secretary of state and the state comptroller within five days after the
date it is duly enacted.