Hellerstein v. Assessor of Islip
New York Court of Appeals
332 N.E.2d 279, 37 N.Y.2d 1, 371 N.Y.S.2d 388 (1975)
- Written by Heather Whittemore, JD
Facts
Pauline Hellerstein (plaintiff) owned property on Fire Island, in the town of Islip, New York. Islip applied its property taxes with fractional property assessments, meaning that property was assessed for tax purposes as a percentage of the property’s full value rather than as the property’s full value. Section 306 of New York’s Real Property Tax Law provided that property should be assessed for tax purposes at the property’s full value. The property’s full value was generally considered to be the fair market value of the property, unless the market value could not be determined. Though § 306 was first enacted in 1788, Islip and other towns in New York had been conducting fractional property assessments for just as long. Hellerstein filed a lawsuit in state court against the assessor of Islip (the assessor) (defendant), asserting that the assessor’s practices of fractional property assessment violated § 306. The assessor defended his practice by arguing that Islip had been using fractional assessments for many years and that changing the assessment methods would create chaos and disruption in the town. The New York Supreme Court dismissed Hellerstein’s complaint, and the appellate division affirmed the dismissal without writing an opinion. Hellerstein appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Wachtler, J.)
Dissent (Jones, J.)
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