Int. No. 349

By the Speaker (Council Member Vallone) and Council Members Harrison and Miller

A LOCAL LAW

To amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to increasing the maximum income eligibility level for the granting of partial exemptions from real property taxation to certain persons sixty-five years of age or over.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 11-245.3 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as last amended by local law number 34 for the year 1997, is amended to read as follows:
3. No exemption shall be granted:
(a) if the income of the owner or the combined income of the owners of the property exceeds the sum of [eighteen] nineteen thousand five hundred dollars for the income tax year immediately preceding the date of making application for exemption. Income tax year shall mean the twelve month period for which the owner or owners filed a federal personal income tax return, or if no such return is filed, the calendar year. Where title is vested in either the husband or the wife, their combined income may not exceed such sum, except where the husband or wife, or ex-husband or ex-wife is absent from the property as provided in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d) of this subdivision, then only the income of the spouse or ex-spouse residing on the property shall be considered and may not exceed such sum. Such income shall include social security and retirement benefits, interest, dividends, total gain from the sale or exchange of a capital asset which may be offset by a loss from the sale or exchange of a capital asset in the same income tax year, net rental income, salary or earnings, and net income from self-employment, but shall not include gifts, inheritances, or a return of capital and any such income shall be offset by all medical and prescription drug expenses actually paid which were not reimbursed or paid for by insurance. In computing net rental income and net income from self-employment no depreciation deduction shall be allowed for the exhaustion, wear and tear of real or personal property held for the production of income;
?2. Subdivision 7 of section 11-245.3 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as last amended by local law number 75 for the year 1996, is amended to read as follows:
7. Notwithstanding the maximum income exemption eligibility level provided in subdivision three of this section, an exemption, subject to all other provisions of this section, shall be granted as indicated in the following schedule:

Annual Income Percentage Valuation Exempt
Assessed From Taxation

More than [18,500] $19,500 but less than [19,500] $20,500 45 per centum
[19,500] $20,500 or more but less than [20,500] $21,500 40 per centum
[20,500] $21,500 or more but less than [21,500] $22,500 35 per centum
[21,500] $22,500 or more but less than [22,400] $23,400 30 per centum
[22,400] $23,400 or more but less than [23,300] $24,300 25 per centum
[23,300] $24,300 or more but less than [24,200] $25,200 20 per centum
[24,200] $25,200 or more but less than [25,100] $26,100 15 per centum
[25,100] $26,100 or more but less than [26,000] $27,000 10 per centum
[26,000] $27,000 or more but less than [26,900] $27,900 5 per centum

?3. This local law shall take effect immediately and apply to assessment rolls prepared on the basis of taxable status dates occurring on or after January 1, 1999, provided, however, that this local law shall not take effect earlier than the effective date of a chapter of the laws of 1998 amending the real property tax law, in relation to income eligibility for property tax exemptions for persons aged sixty-five and older, as proposed in legislative bill numbers S.5322-A and A.7721-A.

HG
7/2/98
LS#686