[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Islip 10-25-1966; amended in its entirety 1-23-2024 by L.L. No. 1-2024.
Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be entitled and shall be cited as "An Ordinance
to Grant a Partial Tax Exemption of Real Property to Qualified Senior
Citizens."
Real property owned by persons 65 years of age or over shall be exempt from Town, highway, special and improvement district taxes within the Town of Islip to the extent of the percentage of the assessed valuation set forth in § 48-3B herein, subject to the conditions and provisions of § 467 of the Real Property Tax Law. Any person qualifying under this section shall not be denied the exemption under this section if he or she becomes 65 years of age after the taxable status date and before December 31 of the same year.
A.
The owner or all the owners must file an application annually in
the Assessor's office on or before the appropriate taxable status
date.
(1)
The Assessor is authorized to accept an application for such exemption
after the appropriate taxable status date but not later than the last
date on which a petition with respect to complaints of assessment
may be filed, where failure to file a timely application resulted
from death of the applicant's spouse, child, parent, brother
or sister or an illness of the applicant or of the applicant's
spouse, child, parent, brother or sister which actually prevents the
applicant from filing on a timely basis, as certified by a licensed
physician. The Assessor shall approve or deny such application as
if it had been filed on or before the taxable status date.
B.
The income of the owner or the combined income of the owners of the
property for the applicable income tax year, as defined by § 467
of the Real Property Tax Law, shall determine the percentage of assessed
valuation which is exempt from taxation, in accordance with the following
schedule. For the purposes of this section, $50,000 shall constitute
the maximum income exempt eligibility level (M).
|
Annual Income
|
Percentage of Assessed Valuation Exempt From Taxation
|
|---|---|
|
More than (M) but less than (M + $1,000)
|
45%
|
|
(M + $1,000 or more) but less than (M + $2,000)
|
40%
|
|
(M + $2,000 or more) but less than (M + $3,000)
|
35%
|
|
(M + $3,000 or more) but less than (M + $3,900)
|
30%
|
|
(M + $3,900 or more) but less than (M + $4,800)
|
25%
|
|
(M + $4,800 or more) but less than (M + $5,700)
|
20%
|
|
(M + $5,700 or more) but less than (M + $6,600)
|
15%
|
|
(M + $6,600 or more) but less than (M + $7,500)
|
10%
|
|
(M + $7,500 or more) but less than (M + $8,400)
|
5%
|
(1)
The term "income" as used herein shall mean the adjusted gross income
for federal income tax purposes as reported on the applicant's
federal or state income tax return for the applicable income tax year,
subject to any subsequent amendments or revisions; provided that if
no such return was filed for the applicable income tax year, the applicant's
income shall be determined based on the amounts that would have so
been reported if such a return had been filed; and provided, further,
that when determining income, the following conditions shall be applicable:
(a)
Any social security benefits that were excluded from the applicant's
federally adjusted gross income shall be considered income;
(b)
Any tax-exempt interest or dividends that were excluded from
the applicant's federally adjusted gross income shall be considered
income;
(c)
Any distributions received from an individual retirement account
or individual retirement annuity that were included in the applicant's
federal adjusted gross income shall be considered income; and
(d)
Any losses that were applied to reduce the applicant's
federal adjusted gross income shall be subject to the following limitations:
C.
Title to the property must be vested in the owner or if more than
one in all the owners for at least 24 consecutive months prior to
the date that the application is filed.
D.
The property must be used exclusively for residential purposes, be
occupied in whole or in part by the owners and constitute the legal
residence of the owners.
A.
Title to that portion of real property owned by a cooperative apartment
corporation in which a tenant-stockholder of such corporation resides,
and which is represented by his or her share or shares of stock in
such corporation as determined by its or their proportional relationship
to the total outstanding stock of the corporation, including that
owned by the corporation, shall be deemed to be vested in such tenant-stockholder.
B.
That proportion of the assessment of such real property owned by
a cooperative apartment corporation determined by the relationship
of such real property vested in such tenant-stockholder to such entire
parcel and the buildings thereon owned by such cooperative apartment
corporation in which such tenant-stockholder resides shall be subject
to exemption from taxation pursuant to this chapter, and any exemption
so granted shall be credited by the appropriate taxing authority against
the assessed valuation of such real property; the reduction in real
property taxes realized thereby shall be credited by the cooperative
apartment corporation against the amount of such taxes otherwise payable
by or chargeable to such tenant-stockholder.
This chapter shall apply to assessment rolls prepared on the
basis of taxable status dates occurring on or after January 1, 2024.
