PETITIONER DID NOT COME FORWARD WITH SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO OVERCOME THE PRESUMPTION THAT THE REAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT WAS VALID.

The Fourth Department determined the petitioner (city) did not overcome the presumption that the respondent’s (town’s) real property tax assessment was valid. The city owned a drinking water reservoir and dam area in the town. The city failed to produce an appraisal to challenge the town’s assessment. Therefore, the town was not required to come forward with any proof to support the assessment:

It is the rule in an RPTL article 7 proceeding that the “locality’s tax assessment is presumptively valid,” but that “[the] petitioner may overcome that presumption by bringing forth substantial evidence that its property has been overvalued” … . “In the context of a proceeding to challenge a tax assessment, substantial evidence will often consist of a detailed, competent appraisal based on standard, accepted appraisal techniques and prepared by a qualified appraiser” … . Until the presumption of the validity of the assessment is overcome, there is no obligation on the part of the assessor to come forward with proof of correctness of the assessment … . Only if the petitioner rebuts the presumption of validity must the court then examine and “weigh the entire record, including evidence of claimed deficiencies in the assessment, to determine whether petitioner has established by a preponderance of the evidence that its property has been overvalued” … . …

Here, the record contains no competent appraisal evidence by which the court plausibly might have determined that the fair value of the parcel was, on each of the taxable dates in question, $11.45 million. Given that lack of proof of valuation, it must be concluded that petitioner failed to carry its evidentiary burden in challenging its tax assessment … . Matter of City of Rome v Board of Assessors, 2017 NY Slip Op 00864, 4th Dept 2-3-17

 

REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW (PETITIONER DID NOT COME FORWARD WITH SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO OVERCOME THE PRESUMPTION THAT THE REAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT WAS VALID)/MUNCIPAL LAW (REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW, CITY DID NOT COME FORWARD WITH SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO OVERCOME THE PRESUMPTION THAT THE TOWN’S REAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT WAS VALID)