03/28/2022 Assessment Community Weekly
ORPTS training schedule
The ORPTS Training Schedule is now updated through September.
Following the success of our first live virtual course last year, we’re offering two more classes taught by live instructors in a virtual environment:
- Fundamentals of Assessment Administration – June 7-9 and 14-16
- Fundamentals of Mass Appraisal – October 17-21
To register for these and other courses, visit the Online Training Registration application.
RPSV4 updates: Manufactured home STAR utility and cost data
To download the latest RPSV4 updates, log into the Online Assessment Community, agree to the security contract, and select RPSV4 Updates from the hamburger menu in the upper left corner of the page.
Don’t see RPSV4 Updates in your dropdown menu? Email real.property@tax.ny.gov.
Don’t have a secure account for the Online Assessment Community? Learn how to request an account.
Manufactured home STAR updates
The manufactured home STAR updates can be found under Maintenance Releases for RPS2020:
- RPS2020_3022.exe, and
- db_791.exe.
After installing the updates, run the utility to remove ineligible STAR exemptions from all manufactured homes in parks. It will not remove exemptions from manufactured homes that are separately assessed.
For instructions, see the RPSV4 Manufactured Home Utility User Guide.
Cost update
You can now access the annual cost update directly from the RPSV4 Updates page in the Online Assessment Community. (You may recall having to contact your ORPTS Customer Service Team in previous years for the cost update).
You’ll find the new cost section at the bottom of the page.
Replication users should run this update at both the remote and consolidated sites.
If you have questions about either update or the new utility, contact your ORPTS Customer Service Team.
Reminder: You can still use the RPSV4 Manufactured Home Worksheet, even though you will no longer have STAR exemptions in your manufactured home parks
RPSV4 allows user access from the Description window for parcels that are classified as manufactured home parks (PCC 416). For instructions, see How to access the RPSV4 manufactured home worksheet when there are no STAR exemptions in the park.
Enhanced STAR good cause: Q and As
It’s that time of the year when we begin receiving Enhanced STAR Good Cause requests, and we start reaching out to assessors for input. We shared these Q and As in the newsletter last year. However, based on recent questions, we think they bear repeating.
For more information on the Good Cause program, see Late Enhanced STAR applications due to good cause.
Q. Why should ORPTS grant the Enhanced STAR exemption to a homeowner who didn’t submit their Enhanced STAR application by the taxable status date?
A. The intent of the Good Cause program is to grant the exemption to seniors who missed the deadline for a sufficient reason. RPTL 425(6)(a-2) authorizes the department to extend the filing deadline and grant the exemption if it is “satisfied that (i) good cause existed for the failure to file the application by the taxable status date, and that (ii) the applicant is otherwise entitled to the exemption.”
Q. I never received any paperwork from the homeowner, so how can I put the Enhanced STAR exemption on the roll?
A. The same section of the law also states, “the assessor shall thereupon be authorized and directed to correct the assessment roll accordingly, or, if another person has custody or control of the assessment roll, to direct that person to make the appropriate corrections.”
Q. How can I enroll a property in the IVP Tool without an application for the property?
A. If ORPTS grants the Enhanced STAR exemption as the result of a Good Cause application, the assessor does not need to enter it into the tool. ORPTS will enroll the property in the IVP directly. The enrollment generally becomes visible in the IVP Tool within five to seven days.
Also see: Assisting seniors who missed the exemption application deadline.