[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
The Common Council must annually cause to be levied and raised
by general tax upon all taxable real property in the city, according
to the valuation upon the final assessment roll applicable to tax
levies for the current year, including any corrections to date:
1.
The amount of taxes for state and county purposes certified to the
Common Council of the city by the Board of Supervisors of the county
of Chenango, to be assessed upon the real property within the city;
2.
The amount of all interest and any installment of principal falling
due upon the indebtedness of the city, which shall which shall be
kept in a separate fund to be called the debt service fund; and
3.
The amount required to be raised for city purposes for the next fiscal
year as authorized and provided by this Act.
If the Common Council recommend, or if the owners of ten per
centum (10%) of the value of the property appearing upon the last
assessment roll of the city shall petition for, an extraordinary capital
expenditure to be made for any purpose for the benefit of the city,
or for any purpose for which bonds may be issued, or it, upon its
own motion, the Common Council shall resolve by an affirmative vote
of two-thirds (2/3) of the Aldermen that an extraordinary capital
expenditure ought for the benefit of the city to be made for any specific
purpose set forth in the resolution, it shall make an estimate of
the sum necessary therefor and for all such purposes, if there be
more than one (1), and publish such resolution and estimate for at
least two (2) weeks in the official city newspaper printed in the
city, together with a notice that at a time and place therein specified
it will decide whether the amount of such expenditure shall be raised
by tax. The Common Council shall designate four (4) of their number
to act as Inspectors at such election and they shall also appoint
a Poll Clerk and a Ballot Clerk and shall fill all vacancies occurring
among them. All provisions of law prescribing the duties of Inspectors
of Election and their powers with reference to preserving order at
elections and false swearing and fraudulent voting thereat shall,
so far as applicable, apply to the special election held thereunder.
Every person who owns any real property which shall have been assessed
and taxed upon the last assessment roll of the city before such special
election, and no other person, shall be entitled to vote at such election.
The election shall be by ballot, and each ballot shall contain a brief
statement of each purpose for which such expenditure is required and
the amount thereof, and be in form required by the Election Law for
voting upon questions submitted. The Inspectors shall, at the time
and place designated as aforesaid, sit without intermission from 9:00
a.m. until 4:00 p.m. to receive the ballots cast at such special election,
and shall deposit the same in a suitable box to be provided by the
city. If the right to vote of any citizen offering to vote at such
special election be challenged by any other person entitled to vote
thereat, an Inspector of Election shall administer to him the following
oath: "You do swear that you are the owner of property assessed upon
the last assessment roll of the City of Norwich and that you have
not voted at this election?" After he shall take such oath, and if
he owns property assessed upon the assessment roll aforesaid, his
vote shall be received. The Inspectors shall canvass the votes received
immediately after the closing of the polls and immediately make a
certificate, signed by them, stating the whole number of ballots voted
at such election, the whole number in favor of each special tax, and
the whole number against each special tax, and deliver the same forthwith
to the City Clerk. The City Clerk shall deliver the same to the Common
Council at its next meeting, and it shall cause the result of the
said election thus certified to be entered in its minutes, and if
the whole number of votes received at such election for any such special
tax exceeds the whole number of votes against the same, the Common
Council shall, except as hereinafter provided, cause the sum or sums
of money thus voted to be assessed, levied and raised with and in
addition to other taxes in and upon the next assessment roll.
After such special tax or taxes shall have been authorized as
herein provided, the Common Council may proceed to authorize the expenditures
of the amount thereof, during the fiscal year for which such tax is
to be levied, for the purpose or purposes specified in the published
statement aforesaid, and sanctioned by such election.
The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to limit
the issue of bonds or capital notes or to prevent the financing of
any object or purpose for which a period of probable usefulness is
provided in the Local Finance Law.
[Amended 12-16-1997 by L.L. No. 5-1997]
The Director of Finance, under the direction of the Common Council,
shall extend and apportion the city tax and, in a separate column,
the state and county taxes on the assessment roll delivered to him
in each year, and shall file the same in his office. Then and on or
before the 15th day of December, or as soon thereafter as practicable,
a warrant shall be annexed to the original roll of the taxes extended
therein as aforesaid and be signed by the Mayor and the City Clerk
under the seal of the city, commanding the Receiver of Taxes to receive
and collect the several sums in the tax roll specified as assessed
against the property therein mentioned or described with such percentage
or penalty and interest as is in this Act provided, in the manner
provided by law. Such tax, including city and county, shall become
due on the first day of January in each year and shall be payable
in two (2) installments, the first installment, together with any
annual installment of any assessment, shall be payable on or before
the thirty-first day of January in such year, and the second installment
shall be payable on or before the thirty-first day of May following.
Each of said installments shall be fifty per centum (50%) of said
tax. The Receiver of Taxes shall receive and collect the relative
proportions of the installments payable on or before the thirty-first
day of January and on or before the thirty-first day of May respectively
as hereinafter provided. On the first day of January of each year,
all taxes assessed and levied upon any real estate shall be a lien
upon such real estate for the amount thereof, and the percentages
and interest as they accrue shall also be a lien.
[Amended 12-16-1997 by L.L. No. 5-1997; 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
After the date of the tax warrant, the Receiver of Taxes shall
publish a notice in the official newspaper once a week for two consecutive
weeks and shall post such notice in three (3) public places, stating:
1.
That he has received the warrant for collection of state, county
and city taxes; and
2.
When the taxes are due and payable; and
3.
The penalties for failure to pay the same on time.
|
During the fiscal year for which they have been levied, taxes
may be paid either in full, or in two equal installments, according
to the following schedule:
|
|
Total Tax:
|
May be paid in full from January 1st through March 31st. (If
no payments are made prior to April 1st, total tax is past due and
payable in full.)
|
|
First Installment:
|
May be paid from January 1st through March 31st. (If not paid
prior to April 1st, total tax is past due and payable in full.)
|
|
Second Installment:
|
May be paid after payment of First Installment, through July
31st. (If not paid prior to August 1st, second installment is past
due.)
|
|
Fees Charged:
|
On all tax amounts paid within the month of:
|
|
Fee Due:
| ||
|
January
|
0.0%
| |
|
February
|
1.5%
| |
|
March
|
2.0%
| |
|
April
|
2.5%
| |
|
May
|
3.0%
| |
|
June
|
11.0%
| |
|
July
|
12.0%
| |
|
August
|
15.0%
| |
|
September
|
16.0%
|
|
From October 1st through day prior to tax sale:
|
17.5%
| |
|
From date of tax sale through date of redemption:
|
17.5% per annum
|
|
The fees and interest provided in this section shall be the
property of the city in all cases, including but not limited to those
where tax sales are not bid in by the city but are purchased by any
other party.
|
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
Immediately upon receiving any tax, the Receiver of Taxes shall
give the person paying the same a receipt therefor and retain a duplicate
copy of said receipt in his office according to New York State records
retention requirements. Separate receipts shall be issued on each
parcel for each tax year being paid.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
In preparation for enforcement proceedings, after the first
day of August of each year during which city and county taxes have
been levied or other unpaid taxes have been re-levied, the Receiver
of Taxes shall cause a list to be made of any and all such taxes which
remain unpaid. Such list shall identify each parcel by its address
and the owner's name as listed on the tax roll, and shall indicate
the amount of unpaid taxes plus interest and charges against the parcel
to date.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
Whenever any such tax, penalty or interest or any part of either
of them shall remain unpaid on the first day of September following
the assessment and levy of such tax, the Director of Finance shall
proceed to advertise and sell the parcels upon which the same was
imposed, for the payment of such tax, penalty or interest, or the
part remaining unpaid, and the expense of such sale, as hereinafter
prescribed, shall also be charged upon such parcels.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
The Director of Finance shall cause to be published a notice
of such sale, in the official newspaper of the city, containing a
list of the parcels to be sold, identifying each parcel by its address
and the owner's name as listed on the tax roll, and indicating
the amount of unpaid taxes plus interest and charges against the parcel
to date, and specifying the time and place of sale, which notice shall
be published in the official newspaper of the city designated for
that purpose by the Common Council, once a week for at least six (6)
successive weeks immediately prior to the day of sale, and shall also
post such notice of sale in at least three (3) public places of the
city at least forty-two (42) days before the day of sale. On the day
named, the Director of Finance shall commence the sale of such parcels
and shall continue such sale until the whole thereof be sold. At any
time before the sale, the owner of such parcels or his representative
or any person interested therein may avoid the sale thereof by paying
the tax or taxes to the Director of Finance with all accrued interest,
fees, additions and expenses.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
Each parcel shall be sold at public auction to the highest bidder.
The minimum acceptable bid cannot be less than the amount of unpaid
taxes plus interest and charges against the parcel to date. The city
shall reserve a right of first refusal to match the highest bid made
on any parcel. The purchaser or purchasers on such sale shall pay
the amounts of their respective bids to the Director of Finance immediately
after each parcel shall be struck off. Should there be no bid of the
amount due on any parcel of real property to be sold, or should the
city exercise its right of first refusal, then the Director of Finance
shall, unless otherwise directed by the Common Council as to any or
all parcels, thereupon bid in the same for the city in the case of
no bids made, or thereupon bid in for the city the matching amount
of the highest bid in the case of the city exercising its right of
first refusal. The city is hereby authorized to acquire said parcels
which remain unredeemed after the expiration of the redemption period
as provided under Section 218 of this Title, and the Common Council
shall thereafter have the care, management and control of all such
parcels and may lease or sell and convey the same. As soon as practicable
after the sale, the Director of Finance shall prepare and execute
in duplicate, as to each parcel sold, a certificate of such sale,
identifying the parcel purchased by indicating its address and the
owner's name as listed on the tax roll, stating the fact of the
sale, the name of the purchaser, the sum paid therefor, the amount
due thereon, and the date of the sale. One (1) of said duplicates
shall be delivered to the purchaser, or, in case the parcel was struck
off to the city, then it shall be retained and filed in the office
of the Director of Finance. The Director of Finance shall deliver
the other duplicate certificate to the Clerk of the County of Chenango,
who shall file said certificate in his office and record the same
in a book to be kept in said Clerk's office for that purpose,
and shall index the certificate in the same manner as deeds are required
by law to be indexed. The County Clerk shall be entitled to receive
an appropriately established and reasonable fee for each certificate
so filed and recorded, which fee shall be paid by the Director of
Finance and shall be a part of the expenses of the sale of the parcel.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
The proceeds of the sale of each parcel, other than those struck
off to the city, shall be applied to the payment of the expenses of
the sale as herein provided and the extinguishment of the tax, penalty
or interest for which it was sold, and if there should then be any
surplus, the Director of Finance shall hold the surplus until the
owner of, or any person interested in or having a lien upon, the parcel
at the time of the sale shall redeem it from the sale as herein provided,
and the Director of Finance shall pay such owner the said surplus.
In all such other cases, the Director of Finance shall hold the surplus
until after the period of redemption shall have expired and then he
shall pay such surplus, and the person, persons, association or corporation
entitled thereto shall be ascertained in the same manner and by the
same proceedings as in the case of surplus and statutory foreclosure
of a mortgage on real estate. In the case where any subsequent taxes
shall be assessed and levied on real estate, which has been previously
sold for taxes, and before the redemption of such previous tax sale
and where such subsequent taxes remain unpaid, the Director of Finance
may deduct the amount thereof from any surplus. If any such subsequent
taxes still remain unpaid, the purchaser shall pay the same before
he shall receive his conveyance of the real estate.
[Amended 12-16-1997 by L.L. No. 5-1997; 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
The owner of, or any person interested in or having a lien upon,
any parcel so sold, may redeem the same from such sale at any time
within fifteen (15) months from the date of the sale by paying to
the Director of Finance the sum mentioned in the certificate as having
been bid for the premises, plus interest applied on the amount of
unpaid taxes and accrued interest and charges from the date of the
sale to the date of redemption at the rate of seventeen and one half
per centum 17.5%. The city shall pay the purchaser of the tax sale
the sum mentioned in the certificate as having been bid for the premises.
All interest and charges to the date of redemption shall be the property
of and retained by the city.
In case of the redemption of any parcel sold for taxes as herein
provided, by the person who was the owner thereof at the time of the
sale or by any other person or entity, the Director of Finance shall
give such owner a receipt for the amount paid to effect such redemption,
and on the production thereof by the owner to the County Clerk, the
County Clerk shall cancel the certificate of sale by a proper entry
at the foot of the record of such certificate in his office.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
Three (3) months before the expiration of the time for the final
redemption of any parcels so sold, or as soon thereafter as is practicable,
the Director of Finance shall commence the publication in the official
newspaper of the city of a notice of redemption from such sales, which
shall show the year when the sale took place and the last day for
the redemption of the parcels not already redeemed, without other
or further description, except that the notice shall state the office
or place within the City of Norwich where the money for such redemption
can be paid and the amount necessary to redeem the same, and such
notice shall be published at least twice in each of said three (3)
months in the official city newspaper. On or before the first day
of the publication of the notice above set forth, a copy of such notice
shall be served personally by means of sending it by certified mail
to the owner of the parcels, and to any other person or entity, whose
right, title, or interest was recorded in the Chenango County Clerk's
Office as of the date of such notice, which right, title, or interest
will be affected by the termination of the redemption period, and
whose name and address are reasonably ascertainable from such record.
The failure of an intended recipient to receive any such notice in
such manner as above set forth shall not invalidate any tax or related
charges or prevent the enforcement of the same or of any provision
of this Title. The service of such notice as herein prescribed shall
be deemed to be equivalent to the service of a notice of petition
pursuant to section four hundred three of the civil practice law and
rules of the state of New York. The publication and service of such
notice shall bar and preclude any and all persons and entities except
the purchaser on such sale, or his assigns, from claiming any interest
in or lien upon such parcels or any part thereof in case the said
parcels shall not be redeemed from such sale as hereinbefore provided.
[Amended 8-22-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
If any parcel so sold shall not be redeemed as herein provided,
the Director of Finance, following the expiration of the said fifteen
(15) months, shall cause to be executed and delivered upon request
to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, or to the city or its assigns,
as the case may be, a conveyance of the parcel so sold, which conveyance
shall vest in the grantee an estate in fee subject only to the liens,
if any, of unpaid taxes or assessments thereon. The Director of Finance
shall be entitled on behalf of the city to demand and receive from
the grantee all reasonable costs for the preparation and execution
of such conveyance. Every such conveyance shall be executed by the
Director of Finance to the city. In the case of the purchaser being
other than the city, the city shall then immediately convey such parcel
to said purchaser by quitclaim deed, which shall be executed by the
Mayor. The execution of all such conveyances shall be acknowledged
before some officer authorized to take and certify acknowledgments
of instruments for record in said county, and such conveyance shall
be conclusive evidence that the sale and subsequent proceedings were
regular and presumptive evidence that all the previous proceedings
were regular and according to law. Any such conveyances may be recorded
in like manner and with like effect as any other conveyance of real
estate. The said grantee or his assigns, or the city or its assigns,
as the case may be, shall be entitled to have and to possess the granted
parcel from and after the execution of such conveyance, and may cause
the occupants of such parcel to be removed therefrom and the possession
thereof delivered to them in the same manner and by the same proceedings
and by and before the same officers as in the case of a tenant holding
over after the expiration of his term without permission of his landlord.
It shall be the duty of the Director of Finance to pay over
to the Treasurer of the County of Chenango at the end of each month
during the period that the tax roll and warrant is in his hands, all
moneys received by him for state and county taxes. The Director of
Finance shall settle with the County Treasurer for such taxes in the
manner required by law of Town Collectors. Anything to the contrary
notwithstanding, any stay, lawfully granted by any court of competent
jurisdiction by injunction or other order or proceeding, of the collection
of any state and county taxes existing at the expiration of the period
for the collection of such taxes under any certified resolution of
the Board of Supervisors in the hands of the Director of Finance for
the collection thereof, or existing at the time of the expiration
of the term of office of the City Chamberlain holding such certified
resolution, shall operate as an extension of the time within which
the City Chamberlain may collect such taxes, until such stay is terminated
and for a period of thirty (30) days thereafter. The fact of the prevention
of the collection of such taxes by reason of such stay shall be certified
to by the City Chamberlain to the County Treasurer at the time prescribed
herein for the settlement of the taxes not so collected. Upon the
final settlement with the County Treasurer, the City Chamberlain shall
pay from the general fund of the city the amount of uncollected state
and county taxes, except those which he has been prevented from collecting
by the above-described stay, in his hands for collection, and thereupon
such taxes shall, belong to the City of Norwich.
The Common Council of the city may, in its discretion, release,
discharge, remit or commute any portion of the taxes assessed or levied
against any property, for an error, irregularity or omission in the
levying of said taxes, or in any of the proceedings relating to the
same. In case any assessment shall remain unpaid on account of any
irregularity, omission or error in any assessment authorized by this
Act or the laws in force when such tax is levied, or in case of error
in the description of lands or in the description of the owner or
occupants, the Common Council may in its discretion, or upon the application
of any person interested, proceed to correct such irregularity, mistake
or inadvertence in levying or assessing the same, and shall have the
power, and it shall be its duty, to cause the same to be reassessed
in a proper manner, and likewise it shall be the duty of the Common
Council to assess upon the next annual tax roll any property inadvertently
omitted from the preceding tax roll, and a tax shall be levied thereon
at the ratio of said preceding year. Any sum paid thereon shall be
credited upon the tax so reassessed, and if the sum paid shall exceed
the amount so reassessed, the excess shall be refunded to the person
entitled thereto.
Whenever an assessment shall be ordered for local improvements,
the assessment shall be made to resemble in form, as nearly as practicable,
the tax list, and be provided with a column in which payments can
be entered by the Director of Finance. All provisions relating to
the collection of taxes in this Act shall be applicable to the collection
of assessments mentioned in this Act, and the amount of all assessments
for local improvements in default at the time of the annual tax levy
shall be added to the amount assessed against the same land for general
city taxes, and shall be collected and enforced in the same manner
as in this Act provided.
On or before the first day of December in each year, the Common
Council shall cause to be prepared a budget for the ensuing fiscal
year. Such budget shall contain an itemized statement of all the estimated
expenses and income of each and every department of the city government.
In preparing the budget as above provided, it shall be the duty of
each and every employee and officer of the city to aid and assist
in such process and to provide all the papers and records of the city.
Such statement shall contain in detail a statement of all judgments
against the city then remaining and an itemized statement of the principal
and interest of all bonded and other indebtedness of the city that
will fall due during the next fiscal year. The statement shall contain
the amount of all unpaid taxes and local assessments theretofore assessed
and remaining unpaid and the amount which in his judgment will probably
be received by the city therefrom during the next fiscal year; all
expenditures made or incurred by the city and chargeable to the property
owners or other person and remaining unpaid in the amount which in
his judgement will probably be received by the city during the next
fiscal year. After such statement and estimates have been prepared,
the Common Council shall, at a regular meeting or special meeting
called for that purpose, determine the general amounts necessary to
be raised to defray all the expense of the city for the ensuing fiscal
year.
The Common Council may authorize the expenditure of any surplus
moneys for any lawful purpose of the city.
Unexpended balances of appropriations made for the support of
the city government, except as otherwise provided by law, may remain
upon deposit and be included as a part of the estimated revenues for
the succeeding year, or the Common Council may determine to apply
such unexpended balances toward and in addition to the funds appropriated
for general city purposes.
Upon the completion of the budget, but before its adoption by
the Common Council, the Mayor shall cause copies thereof to be prepared
and made available for distribution at his office to interested persons.
Such copies may be mimeographed, printed or otherwise reproduced.
At the meeting of the Council at which the budget is submitted
to the Council, the Council shall determine the time and place of
the public hearing on the budget. Notice of such public hearing shall
be published in the official newspaper at least five (5) days prior
thereto. Such public hearing may be adjourned from time to time by
the Council.
Within five (5) days after the budget is finally adopted, it
shall be certified by the Mayor and City Clerk as the budget for the
ensuing fiscal year and shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk.
A reasonable number of copies of the budget, in any event not less
than two hundred (200), shall be made available for distribution at
the office of the City Clerk. Such copies may be mimeographed, printed
or otherwise reproduced.
