Terms Used In New York Laws > Real Property Tax > Article 5 - Assessment Procedure

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Approved assessing unit: shall mean an assessing unit certified by the commissioner, pursuant to section nineteen hundred two of this chapter, as having completed a revaluation which is in conformance with the commissioner's rules promulgated pursuant to section fifteen hundred seventy of this chapter. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• assessed value: means the determination made by assessors of the valuation of real property, including the valuation of exempt real property. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Assessment roll: means the assessment roll as it exists from the time of its tentative completion to the time of the annexation of a warrant for the collection of taxes. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• City: means the city of New York. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 583
• Class designation: shall mean :
  
  (a) in an assessing unit other than a special assessing unit, the determination, pursuant to section nineteen hundred three of this chapter, of whether real property is included in the homestead class; or
  
  (b) in a special assessing unit, the determination, pursuant to section eighteen hundred two of this chapter, of whether real property is included in class one, two, three or four. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Clerical error: means :
  
  (a) an incorrect entry of assessed valuation on an assessment roll or on a tax roll which, because of a mistake in transcription, does not conform to the entry for the same parcel which appears on the property record card, field book or other final work product of the assessor, or the final verified statement of the board of assessment review; or
  
  (b) an entry which is a mathematical error present in the computation of a partial exemption; or
  
  (c) an incorrect entry of assessed valuation on an assessment roll or on a tax roll for a parcel which, except for a failure on the part of the assessor to act on a partial exemption, would be eligible for such partial exemption; or
  
  (d) an entry which is a mathematical error present in the computation or extension of the tax; or
  
  (e) an entry on a tax roll which is incorrect by reason of a mistake in the determination or transcription of a special assessment or other charge based on units of service provided by a special district; or
  
  (f) a duplicate entry on an assessment roll or on a tax roll of the description or assessed valuation, or both, of an entire single parcel; or
  
  (g) an entry on an assessment or tax roll which is incorrect by reason of an arithmetical mistake by the assessor appearing on the property record card, field book or other final work product of the assessor; or
  
  (h) an incorrect entry on a tax roll of a relevied school tax or relevied village tax which has been previously paid; or
  
  (i) an entry on a tax roll which is incorrect by reason of a mistake in the transcription of a relevied school tax or relevied village tax; or
  
  (j) an incorrect entry of assessed valuation on an assessment roll or a tax roll due to an assessor's failure to utilize the required assessment method pursuant to section five hundred eighty-one-a of this article in the valuation of qualifying real property. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Error in essential fact: means :
  
  (a) an incorrect entry on the taxable portion of the assessment roll, or the tax roll, or both, of the assessed valuation of an improvement to real property which was destroyed or removed prior to taxable status date for such assessment roll; or
  
  (b) an incorrect entry on the taxable portion of the assessment roll, or the tax roll, or both, of the assessed valuation of an improvement to real property which was not in existence or which was present on a different parcel; or
  
  (c) an incorrect entry of acreage on the taxable portion of the assessment roll, or the tax roll, or both, which acreage was considered by the assessor in the valuation of the parcel and which resulted in an incorrect assessed valuation, where such acreage is shown to be incorrect on a survey submitted by the applicant; or
  
  (d) the omission of the value of an improvement present on real property prior to taxable status date; or
  
  (e) an incorrect entry of a partial exemption on an assessment roll for a parcel which is not eligible for such partial exemption; provided that the exemption has not been renounced pursuant to section four hundred ninety-six of this chapter; or
  
  (f) an entry pursuant to article nineteen of this chapter on an assessment or tax roll which is incorrect by reason of a misclassification of property which is exclusively used for either residential or non-residential purposes. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Improvement: means real property as defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision twelve of section one hundred two of this chapter, and which has been separately described and valued on the property record card, field book or other final work product of the assessor. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Local government: shall mean , unless otherwise expressly stated or unless the context otherwise requires, a county, city or town with the power to assess real property for the purpose of taxation. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• omitted real property: means a parcel wholly omitted from the assessment roll or tax roll, taxable real property entered on the roll as wholly exempt real property, or an error in essential fact as defined in paragraph (d) of subdivision three of this section. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Special assessing unit: shall mean an assessing unit with a population of one million or more. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tax levying body: means the governing board of a municipal corporation which annexes a warrant for the collection of taxes to a final assessment roll. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Tax roll: means a final assessment roll upon which taxes have been extended and to which a warrant has been annexed. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• taxable assessed value: means the assessed valuation of real property less partial exemptions. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• taxation: shall be construed to include special assessments. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 530
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unlawful entry: means :
  
  (a) an entry on the taxable portion of the assessment roll or the tax roll, or both, of the assessed valuation of real property which, except for the provisions of section four hundred ninety of this chapter, is wholly exempt from taxation; or
  
  (b) an entry on an assessment roll or a tax roll, or both, of the assessed valuation of real property which is entirely outside the boundaries of the assessing unit, the school district or the special district in which the real property is designated as being located, but not an entry on an assessment roll or a tax roll, or both, of the assessed valuation of real property assessed pursuant to subdivisions two through five of section five hundred of this article; or
  
  (c) an entry of assessed valuation on an assessment roll or on a tax roll, or both, which has been made by a person or body without the authority to make such entry; or
  
  (d) an entry of assessed valuation of state land subject to taxation on an assessment roll or on a tax roll, or both, which exceeds the assessment of such land approved by the commissioner; or
  
  (e) an entry of assessed valuation of a special franchise on an assessment roll or on a tax roll, or both, which exceeds the final assessment thereof as determined by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision one of section six hundred six of this chapter, or the full value of that special franchise as determined by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision two of section six hundred six of this chapter adjusted by the final state equalization rate established by the commissioner for the assessment roll upon which that value appears. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 550
• Watershed agricultural easement: means a watershed conservation easement which allows the land subject to such easement to be utilized in agricultural production. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 583
• Watershed conservation easement: means an easement, covenant, restriction or other interest in real property purchased by or on behalf of the city of New York that is located in those areas of the counties of Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester located in the watershed of the New York city water supply, created under and subject to the provisions of Article 49 of the environmental conservation law which, for the purpose of maintaining the open space, natural condition, or character of the real property in a manner consistent with the protection of water quality generally and the New York city water supply specifically, limits or restricts development, management or use of such real property. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 583