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THE FAILURE TO TIMELY SERVE THE COUNTY TREASURER WITH THE PETITION SEEKING JUDICIAL REVIEW OF A PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT, A VIOLATION OF RPTL 708 (3), REQUIRED DISMISSAL OF THE PETITION (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the petitioners in this action seeking judicial review of a property tax assessment did not demonstrate good cause for failing to timely serve the county treasurer. The petition should have been dismissed:

RPTL 708 (3) requires that “one copy of the petition and notice shall be mailed within [10] days from the date of service thereof . . . to the superintendent of schools of any school district within which any part of the real property on which the assessment to be reviewed is located and, in all instances, to the treasurer of any county in which any part of the real property is located” … . “Failure to strictly comply with the statute’s notice requirements ‘shall result in the dismissal of the petition, unless excused for good cause shown’ ” … .

The inquiry before us … distills to whether petitioners have demonstrated sufficient good cause to avoid mandatory dismissal. Petitioners rely on the affidavit of their counsel’s employee, who avers that she was unable to find the treasurer’s address on Sullivan County’s website and, consequently, she determined that she could send the petition and notice to the local school district’s superintendent and two unrelated county agencies based upon her evaluation of the responsibilities of those agencies pertaining to the assessment of properties in Sullivan County. … [T]he failure to locate the treasurer’s contact information on the County website neither provides justification for the conclusion that service on a different County office could be made in lieu of the treasurer, nor does it establish that respondents made some affirmative misrepresentation as to the proper location to serve the treasurer … . … [T]here is no indication that petitioners undertook any additional action to ascertain the appropriate contact information for the County treasurer before resorting to service on other government officials, thus negating petitioners’ contention that they engaged in diligent efforts … . Matter of Tribeca Estates LLC v Town of Fallsburg, 2024 NY Slip Op 03214, Third Dept 6-13-24

Practice Point: RPTL 708(3) is strictly construed. Here petitioner could not demonstrate good cause for failing to timely serve the county treasurer with the petition seeking judicial review of a tax assessment and the petition was dismissed.

 

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