Research

Administrative History

Hurricane Agnes hit the Southern Tier and Hudson River Valley counties of New York State in June 1972 and caused several hundred million dollars worth of damage to real property. Emergency Federal disaster loans were made available soon afterward.

In 1973 the Legislature passed an act (Chap. 39) to provide state assistance in the form of tax relief. The relief was given in two ways: 1) tax abatements to individual property owners whose land and/or buildings had been damaged or destroyed in the flood; 2) additional state aid to local governments and city school districts to make up for the tax loss. The additional state aid to localities was continued the second year at 50 per cent of the general abatement, and the third year at 25 per cent.

Property owners who had suffered damage applied directly to the State Board of Equalization and Assessment (SBEA) for tax abatement. Staff of SBEA then inspected each of the damaged properties and calculated the percentage of damage. Taxpayers could request their local board of tax assessment review to modify the percentage loss determined by SBEA staff. Actual amount of tax abatement was calculated by local assessors. The SBEA determined the amount of additional state aid upon application from an affected municipality or school district.