Assessment Community Weekly 06/17/19

Two STAR report updates

Basic STAR Ineligible Reports: On April 15, we issued updated Basic STAR Ineligible Reports to accommodate the new $250,000 income limit for the Basic STAR exemption. If you have not already removed those exemptions from your roll, it’s critical that you do so prior to publishing your final roll. If they are not removed, the property owners will receive bills from our Department for the STAR benefit, and their STAR credit checks will be delayed.
New! STAR Voluntary Exemption Removal Reports: To expedite these reports prior to final roll date, our Regional Customer Service Liaisons will send them to you directly via email. The Switch to the Credit Reports list the property owners who selected Make the Switch when registering for the STAR credit. Assessors must remove the STAR exemptions from these property owners so that they are able to receive checks for the STAR credit prior to the school tax due date.

As a result of the 2019-2020 Enacted State Budget, school tax bill processors will need to make two changes to the 2019 school tax bills:

Change the note for those receiving the STAR credit to read:
An estimated STAR check has been or will be mailed to you by the NYS Tax Department. Any overpayment or underpayment can be reconciled on your next tax return or STAR credit check.
Change the note regarding the cap on STAR savings to read:Note: This year’s STAR exemption benefit cannot exceed last year’s benefit.

Thank you for notifying the appropriate parties in your community to these changes.

For proprietary reasons, cost data is not available on the ORPTS website. To request the update, contact your ORPTS Regional Liaison.

The Real Property Tax Administration Committee (RPTAC) Valuation Issues Team has established two new property class codes:

878 - Electric Power Generation – Solar. The utility-scale placement of interconnected solar photovoltaic (PV) panels used to capture sunlight, convert it to electric energy and then feed it into the electric grid. The typical solar facility will have a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with at least one utility company, guaranteeing a market for the electricity for a fixed term, usually 20 years or more.
879 - Electric Power Generation – Wind. Typically, a collection of commercial grade wind turbines, concentrated in general proximity to each other, used to capture the power of wind; the wind turns the blades of a traditional windmill, or helix, which in turn, drives an electric-producing generator. Although most often found in rural communities, a wind farm may also be situated offshore.

Tomorrow, June 18, the State Board of Real Property Tax Services will meet in Albany. We will make a video of the meeting available online as soon as possible after the meeting.
RPTAC will meet in Onondaga County on Thursday, June 20.

Updated: June 25, 2019