Section 485-A. Residential-commercial urban exemption program

1.
  Definitions.  As used in this section, the following  terms  shall  have
  the following meanings:
    (a)  "Municipality"  means any town, city or village except for a city
  having more than one million inhabitants.
    (b) "Applicant" means any person obligated to pay real property  taxes
  on  the  property  for which an exemption from real property taxes under
  this section is sought.
    (c)  "Commercial   construction   work"   means   the   modernization,
  rehabilitation,  expansion  or  other  improvement  of  the  portion  of
  mixed-use property to be used for commercial purposes.
    (d) "Commercial purpose or use" means the buying, selling or otherwise
  providing of goods or  services,  including  hotel  services,  or  other
  lawful   business   or  commercial  activities  permitted  in  mixed-use
  property.
    (e) "Mixed-use property" means property on  which  will  exist,  after
  completion   of  residential  construction  work  or  a  combination  of
  residential  construction  work  and  commercial  construction  work,  a
  building or structure used for both residential and commercial purposes.
    (f)  "Person"  means  an  individual,  corporation,  limited liability
  company, partnership, association, agency,  trust,  estate,  foreign  or
  domestic government or subdivision thereof, or other entity.
    (g) "Residential construction work" means the creation, modernization,
  rehabilitation,  expansion or other improvement of dwelling units, other
  than dwelling units in a hotel, in the portion of mixed-use property  to
  be used for residential purposes.
    2.  Any  municipality  may, by local law, provide for the exemption of
  real property from taxation  as  provided  in  this  section.  Upon  the
  adoption  of  such a local law, the county in which such municipality is
  located may, by local law, and any school district, all or part of which
  is located  in  such  municipality,  may,  by  resolution,  exempt  such
  property  from its taxation in the same manner and to the same extent as
  such municipality has done.
    3. Upon the  adoption  of  such  a  local  law,  non-residential  real
  property,  upon  conversion  to mixed-use property, shall be exempt from
  taxation and special ad valorem levies as provided  for  in  subdivision
  four of this section.
    4.  (a)  (i)  For  a  period  of  twelve years from the approval of an
  application,  the  increase  in  assessed   value   of   such   property
  attributable   to  such  conversion  shall  be  exempt  as  provided  in
  subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph. Such exemption  shall  be  computed
  with  respect  to  the  "exemption  base".  The  exemption base shall be
  determined for each year in which there is an increase in assessed value
  so attributable from that of the previous year's assessed value.
    (ii) The following table shall illustrate the computation of  the  tax
  exemption:
 
        Year of exemption                      Percentage of exemption
 
            1 through 8                        100% of exemption base
            9                                  80% of exemption base
            10                                 60% of exemption base
            11                                 40% of exemption base
            12                                 20% of exemption base
 
    (b) No such exemption shall be granted unless
    (i)  such conversion was commenced subsequent to the date on which the
  municipality's local law took effect; and

    (ii) the cost of such conversion  exceeds  the  sum  of  ten  thousand
  dollars or such greater amount as may be specified by local law.
    (c) For purposes of this section the term conversion shall not include
  ordinary maintenance and repairs.
    (d)  No  such exemption shall be granted concurrent with or subsequent
  to  any  other  real  property  tax  exemption  granted  to   the   same
  improvements  to  real property, except, where during the period of such
  previous exemption, payments in lieu of taxes  or  other  payments  were
  made  to the local government in an amount that would have been equal to
  or greater than the amount of real property taxes that would  have  been
  paid  on  such  improvements had such property been granted an exemption
  pursuant to this section. In such case, an exemption  shall  be  granted
  for  a  number  of  years  equal  to  the  twelve year exemption granted
  pursuant to this section less the number of  years  the  property  would
  have been previously exempt from real property taxes.
    5.  Such exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner
  of such real property on a form prescribed  by  the  state  board.  Such
  application  shall  be  filed  with  the assessor of the municipality or
  county having the power to assess property for taxation on or before the
  appropriate taxable status date of such municipality or county.
    6. If the assessor is satisfied that the applicant is entitled  to  an
  exemption  pursuant  to  this  section,  he  or  she  shall  approve the
  application and such real  property  shall  thereafter  be  exempt  from
  taxation  and  special  ad  valorem  levies  as in this section provided
  commencing with the assessment roll prepared after  the  taxable  status
  date referred to in subdivision five of this section. The assessed value
  of  any  exemption  granted pursuant to this section shall be entered by
  the assessor on the assessment roll with the taxable property, with  the
  amount of the exemption shown in a separate column.