Volume 8 - Opinions of Counsel SBEA No. 86
Board of assessment review (training requirements) (alternate board) - Real Property Tax Law, §§ 523, 527:
County officials who serve as an alternate board of assessment review are not subject to the training and certification requirements imposed by section 523 of the RPTL.
Section 527 [former § 552] of the Real Property Tax Law [RPTL] requires that the county treasurer, chairman of the county legislative body and clerk of the legislative body act as a board of assessment review where the assessing unit’s board has failed to meet to hear complaints. Section 523, as amended (L.1985, c.214) requires that members of boards of assessment review be trained and certified by the State Board, unless the State Board delegates the training function to county directors of real property tax services. This training requirement applies to persons appointed or reappointed to boards of assessment review of local governments subject to section 523 on or after October 1, 1985.
The county officials who sit as a board of assessment review pursuant to section 527 are not appointed to the assessing unit’s board of assessment review. Rather, they are “acting as a board of assessment review with all the powers and duties of a board of review” (RPTL, § 527). Since they are not appointed members of boards of assessment review constituted pursuant to section 523, it is our opinion that these county officials are not required to obtain State Board training and certification.
January 23, 1986
