TAX CERTIORARI PROCEEDING DISMISSED FOR FAILURE TO TIMELY NOTIFY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT CANNOT BE RECOMMENCED PURSUANT TO CPLR 205 (a).
The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Fahey, determined that a Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) proceeding (challenging a tax assessment) which is dismissed for failure to provide timely notice to the school district cannot be restarted pursuant to CPLR 205 (a). Standard statutory-construction analysis led to the result:
By amending RPTL 708 (3), the legislature allowed school districts to reserve funds to satisfy judgments in tax certiorari proceedings. That right of reservation, however, extended only to the extent funds reserved “might reasonably be deemed necessary to [pay] anticipated judgments and claims” (Education Law § 3651 [1-a]). A school district of necessity must know of a proceeding in order to be able to estimate the amount it is permitted to set aside. The notice requirements the legislature included in RPTL 708 (3) act to balance the strictures of the Education Law. A petitioner who ignores the mailing requirements of RPTL 708 (3) and simultaneously denies a school district the opportunity to economically address a tax certiorari proceeding is not permitted to recommence a proceeding dismissed based upon such noncompliance. To do so would be to undermine the aims of fairness and efficiency that prompted the amendments to RPTL 708 (3) … . Matter of Westchester Joint Water Works v Assessor of City of Rye, 2016 NY Slip Op 04438, CtApp 6-9-16
REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW (TAX CERTIORARI PROCEEDING DISMISSED FOR FAILURE TO TIMELY NOTIFY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT CANNOT BE RECOMMENCED PURSUANT TO CPLR 305 (a))/EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW (TAX CERTIORARI PROCEEDING DISMISSED FOR FAILURE TO TIMELY NOTIFY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT CANNOT BE RECOMMENCED PURSUANT TO CPLR 305 (a))/CIVIL PROCEDURE (TAX CERTIORARI PROCEEDING DISMISSED FOR FAILURE TO TIMELY NOTIFY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT CANNOT BE RECOMMENCED PURSUANT TO CPLR 305 (a))