Pursuant to § 459-b of the Real Property Tax Law and subject to all the conditions set forth therein, where the resident owner of real property used solely for residential purposes as a one-, two- or three-family residence, a member of a resident owner's household or a resident of such property is a victim of a crime or a good samaritan, as defined in § 621 of the Executive Law, and was physically disabled as a result of such crime, any improvement to real property shall be exempt from taxation by the Village of Croton-on-Hudson to the extent of any increase in value attributable to such improvement if such improvement is used primarily for the purpose of facilitating and accommodating the use and accessibility of such real property by such individuals.
[Adopted 10-23-2024 by L.L. No. 14-2024]
[Amended 7-9-2025 by L.L. No. 10-2025]
A.
To qualify as a physically disabled crime victim or good samaritan for the purposes of this article, an individual shall submit to the Assessor a certified statement from a physician licensed to practice in the State of New York on a form prescribed and made available by the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance which states that the individual has a permanent physical impairment which substantially limits one or more of such individual's major life activities, except that an individual who has obtained a certificate from the state commission for the blind stating that such individual is legally blind may submit such certificate in lieu of a physician's certified statement. In addition, a copy of a police report pertaining to the crime from which the injury resulted, a report from the office of victim services or other evidence or documentation which would tend to substantiate that a physical disability was inflicted upon an individual as the result of a crime shall also be submitted to the Assessor.
B.
Such exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner or all the owners of the real property on a form prescribed and made available by the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance. The application shall be filed together with the appropriate certified statement of physical disability or certificate of blindness and police report, crime victim's board report or other substantiating documentation set forth in Subsection A above with the Assessor responsible for preparing the assessment roll for the Village of Croton-on-Hudson on or before the taxable status date of May 1 to be eligible for an exemption to be entered on the assessment roll prepared on the basis of said taxable status date. If granted, the exemption shall continue until the improvement ceases to be necessary to facilitate and accommodate the use and accessibility of the property by the resident crime victim or good samaritan who is physically disabled.