Terms Used In New York Laws > Real Property Tax > Article 5 > Title 1-A - Administrative Review of Assessments

• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Approved assessing unit: shall mean an assessing unit certified by the commissioner, pursuant to section nineteen hundred two of this chapter, as having completed a revaluation which is in conformance with the commissioner's rules promulgated pursuant to section fifteen hundred seventy of this chapter. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• assessed value: means the determination made by assessors of the valuation of real property, including the valuation of exempt real property. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Class designation: shall mean :
  
  (a) in an assessing unit other than a special assessing unit, the determination, pursuant to section nineteen hundred three of this chapter, of whether real property is included in the homestead class; or
  
  (b) in a special assessing unit, the determination, pursuant to section eighteen hundred two of this chapter, of whether real property is included in class one, two, three or four. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Local government: shall mean , unless otherwise expressly stated or unless the context otherwise requires, a county, city or town with the power to assess real property for the purpose of taxation. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Special assessing unit: shall mean an assessing unit with a population of one million or more. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• taxable assessed value: means the assessed valuation of real property less partial exemptions. See N.Y. Real Property Tax Law 522
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.