Senator Kathy Marchione’s legislation aiding local governments in dealing with abandoned properties unanimously passes State Senate

Albany, NY – Senator Kathy Marchione (R,C,I-Halfmoon), Chair of the Senate’s Local Government Committee, today announced that her legislation aiding local governments in dealing with the challenge of abandoned properties has unanimously passed the State Senate.
 

Senator Marchione’s legislation, Senate Bill S.5845, amends the State’s Real Property Tax Law and allows a municipality to set a redemption period of one year for properties that have been officially certified as abandoned by a building department. The measure provides that the redemption period for abandoned properties shall expire one year after the lien date. Senator Marchione’s legislation has been endorsed by the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM).

As noted in Senator Marchione’s bill memo for S.5845, many properties sit abandoned in communities for years accumulating unpaid taxes and driving increased tax collection costs for the tax foreclosing entity whether it is at the local or County level. The abandoned properties, which are often unattended to, become a significant blight to the community. These abandoned and blighted properties often diminish adjacent and neighborhood property values, as well as tax revenue. The properties also have a tendency to attract increased criminal and drug activity which further causes deterioration in the neighborhood.

Senator Marchione’s bill reduces the tax redemption period for properties certified as abandoned from the local building department official pursuant to Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law from two years to one year. This ultimately benefits the property itself as it will prevent further deterioration in many cases as the property is abandoned. It also provides a benefit to the adjoining and neighboring property owners as potential decay and reduction of property values of the neighborhood will be averted. Local governments and tax foreclosing entities may also benefit as a result of lowering costs associated with maintaining vacant properties that are in violation of State Building Code violations and will reduce outstanding tax delinquencies. As a result of decreasing the redemption time, the harm that abandoned properties do to a community would be limited to a shorter time period.

“Abandoned properties pose real financial, logistical and quality of life challenges for local communities throughout New York. My legislation decreases outstanding tax delinquencies and, in so doing, would speed up the process by which localities can begin getting abandoned properties off the rolls,” Senator Marchione said.

Today’s enactment of the bi-partisan legislation is a continuation of Senator Marchione’s efforts to assist localities across New York State with the growing challenge of abandoned properties that diminish a community’s local quality of life and decrease property values. As part of last year’s State Budget, Senator Marchione successful advocated for the inclusion of $25 million in new funding for the Restore program to help local community’s remove abandoned properties (where a clear chain of ownership had previously been established) from the tax rolls.

The Assembly same-as for Senate Bill S.5845 is Assembly Bill A.7556, which is sponsored by Majority Assemblymember John T. McDonald III (108th Assembly District). The measure has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Real Property Taxation.

Senator Marchione’s legislation imposes no new costs to the state.

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