The purpose of this article is to provide real
estate tax relief to qualified persons 65 years of age or older.
This article is enacted pursuant to the provisions
of Article 4 of the Real Property Tax Law of the State of New York,
as amended.
This article shall hereafter be known as the
"City of Hornell Over 65 Real Property Tax Exemption Law."
Real property located in the City of Hornell
and owned by one or more persons, each of whom is 65 years of age
or over, or real property owned by husband and wife, one of whom is
65 years of age or over, shall be exempt from taxation by the City
of Hornell to the extent of 50% of the assessed valuation thereof.
Application for the exemption allowed by this
article must be made by the owner, or all of the owners of the property,
on forms prescribed by the State Board to be furnished by the appropriate
assessing authority and shall furnish the information and be executed
in the manner required or prescribed in such forms, and shall be filed
in the Assessor's office on or before the appropriate taxable status
due.
In addition to any other penalty provided by
law, any conviction of having made any willful false statement in
any application for real property exemption under this article shall
be punishable by a fine of not more than $100 and shall disqualify
the applicant or applicants from further exemption for a period of
five years.
If any section, subsection, paragraph, clause,
sentence or phrase of this article is for any reason held invalid
or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion
shall be deemed a separate, distinct and independent provision, and
such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion
thereof.
This article shall take effect immediately but
shall apply to any real property taxes levied by the City of Hornell
for the year commencing April 1, 2005, and beyond.