Rye Country Day Sch. v. Whitty
| Citation | 212 A.D.3d 819,182 N.Y.S.3d 206 |
| Decision Date | 25 January 2023 |
| Docket Number | 2020–05514,Index No. 67412/18 |
| Parties | In the Matter of RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL, appellant, v. Noreen P. WHITTY, etc., et al., respondents. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court Appellate Division |
212 A.D.3d 819
182 N.Y.S.3d 206
In the Matter of RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL, appellant,
v.
Noreen P. WHITTY, etc., et al., respondents.
2020–05514
Index No. 67412/18
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.
Argued—October 25, 2022
January 25, 2023
Harfenist Kraut & Perlstein LLP, Purchase, NY (Jonathan D. Kraut and Neil Torczyner of counsel), for appellant.
Marks DiPalermo PLLC, White Plains, NY (Kristen K. Wilson of counsel), for respondents.
ANGELA G. IANNACCI, J.P., ROBERT J. MILLER, LINDA CHRISTOPHER, BARRY E. WARHIT, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
In a proceeding, inter alia, pursuant to CPLR article 78 to review a determination of the Board of Assessment Review of the City of Rye, which denied the petitioner's application for a real property tax exemption pursuant to RPTL 420–a for the tax year 2018, the petitioner appeals from an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Bruce E. Tolbert, J.), dated May 11, 2020. The order and judgment, insofar as appealed from, denied that branch of the petition which was pursuant to CPLR article 78 and dismissed that portion of the proceeding.
ORDERED that the order and judgment is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, that branch of the petition which was pursuant to CPLR article 78 is granted, the determination is annulled, and the matter is remitted to the Board of Assessment Review of the City of Rye to issue a new determination granting the petitioner's application for a real property tax exemption for the tax year 2018 and to correct the assessment roll for the tax year 2018 to reflect that the petitioner's real property located at 29–39 New Street in the City of Rye, and identified as Section 139.19, Block 3, Lot 62 on the City of Rye Tax Map, is tax exempt.
The petitioner, Rye Country Day School (hereinafter RCDS),
is a registered not-for-profit college preparatory school in Westchester County. Founded in 1869, RCDS is a day school that provides education for children from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. For more than 25 years, RCDS has used several tax-exempt, single-family residential properties to provide housing for faculty and administrators.
On December 14, 2015, RCDS purchased a parcel of real property containing six townhouses located at 29–39 New Street in the City of Rye and identified as Section 139.19, Block 3, Lot 62 on the City of Rye Tax Map (hereinafter the property). On May 1, 2018, when all six of the townhouses were occupied by full-time RCDS faculty, RCDS applied to the respondent Noreen P. Whitty, the City assessor (hereinafter the assessor), for a tax exemption pursuant to RPTL 420–a for the tax year 2018 for the property. The assessor denied the application on the ground that RCDS did not "sufficiently establish that the Property is an integral part of the education process." On June 19, 2018, RCDS filed a complaint with the City's Board of Assessment Review (hereinafter the BAR), arguing, among other things, that the property was exempt under the law and RCDS used the property as a recruitment tool by providing a short-term housing option for desired faculty from outside of the area. The BAR agreed with the assessor and denied the application for a tax exemption.
RCDS commenced this proceeding, inter alia, pursuant to CPLR article 78 to annul the BAR's determination denying the tax exemption. As pertinent to this appeal,
the Supreme Court denied that branch of the petition which was pursuant to CPLR article 78 and dismissed that portion of the proceeding. The petitioner appeals.
RPTL 420–a "establishes a mandatory tax exemption for real property of nonprofit corporations" ( Matter of Legion of Christ v. Town of Mount Pleasant, 1 N.Y.3d 406, 411, 774 N.Y.S.2d 860, 806 N.E.2d 973 ; see Matter of Greentree Found. v. Assessor & Bd. of Assessors of County of Nassau, 142 A.D.3d 665, 667, 36 N.Y.S.3d 705 ). Generally, the burden of establishing that a property is entitled to a tax exemption rests with the taxpayer (see Matter of Merry–Go–Round Playhouse, Inc. v. Assessor of City of Auburn, 24 N.Y.3d 362, 367, 998 N.Y.S.2d 716, 23 N.E.3d 984 ; Matter of Homeland Found., Inc. v. Gotovich, 148 A.D.3d 708, 709, 48 N.Y.S.3d 512 ). "In a CPLR article 78 proceeding to review the denial of an application for a mandatory exemption pursuant to RPTL 420–a(1), the Supreme Court's dismissal of the proceeding will be affirmed when there was a rational basis for the determination that the petitioner was not entitled to [an] exemption from real estate taxes" (
Matter of Greentree Found. v. Assessor & Bd. of Assessors of County of Nassau, 142 A.D.3d at 666, 36 N.Y.S.3d 705 [internal quotation marks omitted]).
RPTL 420–a(1)(a) provides that "[r]eal property...
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