[Adopted 10-4-2001 by L.L. No. 2-2001]
The Town of Montgomery finds that the maintenance and preservation
of historic barns in the Town of Montgomery is in the public interest
as these structures are an important part of the historic fabric of
the Town. The Town further finds that the presence of historic barns
adds to the aesthetic, historic and cultural setting of the Town and
that once these structures are lost, they are lost forever. The Town
of Montgomery has a substantial number of historic barns, some in
active use and some that are in need of reconstruction and/or rehabilitation.
The purpose of this article is to provide an incentive to the owners
of historic barns to undertake the reconstruction and/or rehabilitation
of these important structures for this generation and for future generations
of Town residents and property owners.
This article is adopted pursuant to the specific statutory authority
found at § 483-b of the New York State Real Property Tax
Law (RPTL), as well as pursuant to the provisions of the New York
State Municipal Home Rule Law, the Statute of Local Governments and
the general police power vested with the Town of Montgomery to provide
for the health, safety and welfare of the residents and owners of
property within the Town.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A structure that was at least partially constructed before
1936 and that was originally designed and used for storing farm equipment
or agricultural products or for housing livestock and which is not
used for residential purposes.
Includes ordinary maintenance and/or ordinary repairs.
Historic barns reconstructed or rehabilitated subsequent to
the effective date of this article shall be exempt from certain local
taxation to the extent provided under § 483-b of the New
York State Real Property Tax Law. Without limiting or modifying the
foregoing, the exemption from local taxation referenced above shall
be as follows:
A.
There shall be an exemption for a period of one year to the extent
of 100% of the increase in assessed value attributable to such reconstruction
or rehabilitation;
B.
The extent of such exemption referenced above shall be decreased
by 10% of the exemption base for each subsequent year until such exemption
is 0% as of the beginning of the 11th year;
C.
Modifications to the sliding scale exemption as set forth above shall
be as set forth in RPTL § 483-b, Subsection 2(a)(ii).
A.
No such exemption shall be granted to an historic barn which is receiving
the separate exemption pursuant to § 483 of the Real Property
Tax Law or which has received such separate exemption pursuant to
said § 483 within 10 years of the date of this application
for the exemption filed pursuant to this article.
B.
No exemption shall be granted for reconstruction and/or rehabilitation
which materially alters the historic appearance of the barn.
C.
No such exemption shall be granted for other than an historic barn meeting the definition set forth in § 205-13 of this article.
D.
No such exemption shall be granted for ordinary maintenance and/or
ordinary repairs.
E.
No such exemption shall apply to special ad valorem levies or special
assessments.
A.
An exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner
of the building on a form prescribed by the State Board of Real Property
Services,[1] which shall be filed with the Assessor of the local municipality
having the power to assess property for taxation on or before the
appropriate taxable status date of such local municipality.
[1]
Editor's Note: "State Board of Real Property Services" has
been statutorily updated to "Commissioner."
B.
If satisfied that the applicant is entitled to an exemption pursuant
to this article, the Assessor shall approve the application and the
increase in value of such historic barn resulting from such rehabilitation
and/or reconstruction shall thereafter be exempt from taxation as
provided under Real Property Tax Law § 483-b commencing
with the assessment roll prepared on the basis of the next taxable
status date. The assessed value of any exemption granted pursuant
to this article shall be entered by the Assessor on the assessment
roll with the taxable property, with the amount of the exemption shown
in a separate column.
In the event that an historic barn that has been granted an
exemption pursuant to this article subsequently is converted to any
residential use or the material historic appearance of said historic
barn subsequently is altered, such exemption shall be terminated.
