The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge DiFiore, over a dissent, reversing the Appellate Division, determined petitioner need not challenge the real property tax assessment every year to be entitled to business-investment-exemption refunds for the years following the year the assessment and exemption were challenged. Real Property Tax Law 485-b provides a partial ten-year exemption for certain improvements made to real property:
… [T]he business investment exemption is of ten years' duration and the amount of the exemption in each of the ten years is calculated using a single assessment roll … . * * *
… [W]hen a computational error based on a single assessment roll results in the miscalculation of the RPTL 485-b exemption, we hold that this error may be challenged by a single petition at the time the error is discernible. It is a waste of resources for all involved, including the courts, to require a property owner to bring a challenge addressing the same error in each and every year the exemption applies. Matter of Highbridge Broadway, LLC v Assessor of the City of Schenectady, 2016 NY Slip Op 03544, CtApp 5-5-16
REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW (PETITIONER NEED NOT CHALLENGE THE REAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT EVERY YEAR TO BE ENTITLED TO BUSINESS INVESTMENT EXEMPTION REFUNDS FOR THOSE YEARS)/BUSINESS INVESTMENT EXEMPTION (REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW, PETITIONER NEED NOT CHALLENGE THE REAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT EVERY YEAR TO BE ENTITLED TO BUSINESS INVESTMENT EXEMPTION REFUNDS FOR THOSE YEARS)