N.Y. Real Property Tax Law § 459-b: Physically disabled crime victims

§ 459-b. Physically disabled crime victims. 1. 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 as defined in

subdivision five or good samaritan as defined in subdivision seven of

section six hundred twenty-one of the executive law and was physically

disabled as a result of such crime, any improvement to real property

shall be exempt from taxation 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.

2. To qualify as a physically disabled crime victim or good samaritan

for the purposes of this section, 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 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.

3. 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. The applicant shall furnish such

information as the commissioner shall require. 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 with the assessor of

the appropriate county, city, town or village on or before the taxable

status date of such county, city, town or village.

3-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any other

provision of law, in a city having a population of one million or more,

applications for the exemption authorized pursuant to this section shall

be considered timely filed if they are filed on or before the fifteenth

day of March of the appropriate year.

4. If the assessor is satisfied that the improvement is necessary to

facilitate and accommodate the use and accessibility by a resident crime

victim or good samaritan who is physically disabled and that the

applicant is entitled to an exemption pursuant to this section, the

assessor shall approve the application and enter the taxable assessed

value of the parcel for which an exemption has been granted pursuant to

this section on the assessment roll with the taxable property, with the

amount of the exemption as determined pursuant to subdivision one of

this section in a separate column. Once granted, the exemption shall

continue on the real property 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.