Bill Text: NY S04634 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Authorizes the city of Lockport to add unpaid housing code violation penalties, costs and fines to such city's annual tax levy.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT [S04634 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S04634-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ S. 4634--A A. 6736--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions SENATE - ASSEMBLY March 18, 2019 ___________ IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. NORRIS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Real Property Taxation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the real property tax law, in relation to authorizing the city of Lockport to add unpaid housing code violation penalties, costs and fines to such city's annual tax levy The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The real property tax law is amended by adding a new 2 section 905-a to read as follows: 3 § 905-a. Collection of unpaid housing code violation penalties; city 4 of Lockport; levy. 1. Authorization. In addition to and not in limita- 5 tion of any power otherwise granted by law, the city of Lockport is 6 hereby authorized to collect any unpaid housing, building and fire code 7 violation penalties, costs and fines through placement by the city trea- 8 surer on the city's annual tax levy in accordance with the provisions of 9 this section. 10 2. Eligibility. In order to be eligible for placement on the city of 11 Lockport's annual tax levy such unpaid code violation penalties, costs 12 and fines shall have been adjudicated and imposed through a judgment in 13 a court of competent jurisdiction on an owner of real property within 14 the city and recorded by the county clerk, as certified by the city's 15 corporation counsel and have remained unpaid for one year after the 16 final adjudication and exhaustion of all appeals relating to the imposi- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10671-03-9S. 4634--A 2 A. 6736--A 1 tion of the fines for a code violation preceding the placement on the 2 city's tax levy. 3 3. Minimum amount owed. To qualify for placement on the tax levy the 4 amount owed for unpaid code violations must be at least five percent of 5 the amount of the tax assessed value of the property. 6 4. Levy. Such code violation penalty, cost or fine as set forth in a 7 copy of the judgment certified by the corporation counsel shall be set 8 down in the annual tax levy under the heading uncollected fines and 9 penalties and in accordance with this section shall be levied, enforced 10 and collected in the same manner, by the same proceedings, at the same 11 time, under the same penalties and having the same lien upon the proper- 12 ty assessed as the tax levy of such municipality and as a part thereof. 13 5. Notice. The city of Lockport shall notify all owners or known 14 interested parties of record of the placement of the code violations on 15 the city tax levy as uncollected fines and penalties within thirty days 16 of placement, pursuant to section three hundred eight of the civil prac- 17 tice law and rules. The notice shall include the date or dates of such 18 violations, the description of the violations, the amount owed, a state- 19 ment detailing the foreclosure process that will occur if the violations 20 remain unpaid, the process to claim any surplus funds and the contact 21 information for the city's office in charge of receiving payments. 22 6. Tax year. Any unpaid code violations shall be placed on the tax 23 roll the city of Lockport is currently in and shall not be placed on a 24 list, roll or levy of delinquent taxes. 25 7. Owner occupied. Notwithstanding any other applicable provisions of 26 law, nothing in this section shall be applied to a residential dwelling 27 that is owner-occupied or is the primary residence of a homeowner. 28 8. Tenants. Prior to the placement of any property with unpaid code 29 violations on the tax levy, the city of Lockport shall develop a program 30 to assist tenants residing in a dwelling at risk for tax foreclosure due 31 to unpaid code violations. Such program shall include housing counseling 32 assistance or other support in relocating the tenants to suitable hous- 33 ing prior to the tax foreclosure. 34 9. Payment plan. Nothing in this section shall preclude an owner or 35 landlord from entering into a payment plan with the city of Lockport for 36 past amounts due for code violations. 37 10. Curing code violations. (a) If all of the violations for which the 38 penalties, fees and costs have been assessed are cured, removed or 39 corrected prior to the expiration of the period for redemption pursuant 40 to section eleven hundred ten of this chapter, the property shall be 41 removed from the levy and auction and the balance of the amount owed 42 shall be placed as a lien on the property pursuant to applicable laws 43 for debt collection and an action for foreclosure of the property shall 44 not be maintained for the amount owed. 45 (b) The determination of whether or not the code violations have been 46 cured shall be made by the city of Lockport's enforcing officer in 47 charge of ensuring compliance with applicable housing, building, and 48 fire codes such as a code enforcement officer. An appeal of this deter- 49 mination may be made to the city's zoning board of appeals or other 50 local administrative body as provided for in local law. The final deter- 51 mination made by the administrative body shall be reviewable pursuant to 52 article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules. 53 (c) This section shall not be applicable to any cause of action 54 brought for money due based on the curing of code violations under any 55 form for receivership or a mechanic's lien.S. 4634--A 3 A. 6736--A 1 11. Payment prior to auction. (a) If the balance owed for code 2 violations placed on the tax levy is paid prior to the expiration of the 3 period for redemption pursuant to section eleven hundred ten of this 4 chapter and there is no balance due for unpaid real property taxes, the 5 property may not be auctioned, and the property shall be removed from 6 the tax levy. 7 (b) The owner shall have the right to pay the full balance prior to 8 the expiration of the period for redemption pursuant to section eleven 9 hundred ten of this chapter in order to redeem the property. 10 12. Surplus. Any surplus funds remaining after the sale of a property 11 at a tax foreclosure for unpaid code violations shall be returned to the 12 former owner of the property in a manner as provided under local law. 13 This provision shall not apply to a sale of a property at a tax foreclo- 14 sure due to unpaid taxes. If a property has both unpaid taxes and unpaid 15 code violations on the same tax levy and is auctioned at a tax foreclo- 16 sure the amount of the surplus funds returned to the former owner shall 17 be proportionate to the amount of unpaid code violations owed in the 18 total amount of debt owed to the city of Lockport. For the purpose of 19 this section, "surplus funds" shall mean the balance of money received 20 after auction of a property at a tax foreclosure sale minus the amount 21 owed for code violations and the costs and attorneys' fees incurred in 22 the collection of the fees by the city. 23 13. Balance due. If after an auction a balance is due for code 24 violations, the city of Lockport may proceed with any action against the 25 former owner pursuant to applicable laws. 26 14. Exclusions. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any 27 municipality that sells their tax liens in a tax sale. 28 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.