NEW SCOTLAND — The owners and lessee of a New Scotland South Road solar facility have filed suit against the town in an attempt to lower the property’s assessed value from just over $1 million to $41,100.

The 1.875 megawatt solar facility located at 347 New Scotland South Road is owned by Donald and Linda Baker and Martha Oden and leased to Standard Solar Inc.

Standard Solar is “contractually responsible for the payment of any property taxes assessed on the Premises resulting from the installation of the solar energy system,” according to the court filing. 

The plaintiffs claim the property’s current assessed value is excessive, unequal, misclassified, and illegal. They are asking the court to declare invalid and unconstitutional the town’s assessment, and are seeking an order applying their value to the parcel.

New York State provides a 15-year exemption on property taxes for parcels with either a wind or solar system. But the law applies only to the value the system adds to the overall value of a property; it doesn’t mean landowners are exempt from all property taxes.

Prior to installation, the property had a 2020 assessed value of $41,100 (and full-market value of $45,165), the filing states.

Following construction of the solar facility, which cost about $2.97 million, the town increased the property’s value to about $2.2 million on its 2021 assessment roll (with a full-market value of $2.4 million), according to court papers.

In November 2021, the property owner and solar company jointly filed for a 15-year exemption from having to pay property taxes.

After the exemption application was filed, the town reduced the solar facility’s 2022 assessed value to approximately $200,000 for school and county taxing purposes. Neither Albany County nor the Voorheesville Central School District have opted out of the solar tax law exemption, according to court papers.

But for the collection of town property taxes, 347 New Scotland South Road in 2022 was assessed at a little over $1 million, of which solar improvements were assessed at a value of $843,900.

On June 7, the Bakers, Oden, and Standard Solar “timely made and filed a grievance complaint” with the town of New Scotland, pursuant to the state’s Real Property Tax Law, “to have the assessed valuation of the Tax Parcel corrected and revised to $41,100 for all purposes in order to eliminate any assessment on the solar improvements to the Premises.”

The plaintiffs’ court filing states New York’s Real Property Tax Law “provides that a taxing jurisdiction may ‘opt-out’ of the solar tax exemption law by passing a local law or resolution and filing a copy of such local law or resolution both with the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (‘DTF’) and the President of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (‘NYSERDA’).”

The town adopted Local Law 3 of 2017, which opted New Scotland out of the solar tax exemption law.

It was the “intent of this Local Law to provide no exemption from taxation as authorized in Real Property Tax Law Section 487. Real Property Tax Law Section 487(8) allows a municipality opt-out of the exemption from taxation. This local law is enacted by the Tow Board of the Town of New Scotland pursuant to its authority granted under the Real Property Tax Law, and the Municipal Home Rule Law,” New Scotland’s 2017 law reads.

The Bakers, Oden, and Standard Solar’s court papers state they were provided “with a copy of a Town local law that was purportedly filed with the New York Department of State on June 27, 2017, but that [New Scotland’s assessor] acknowledged was not submitted to either the DTF or NYSERDA.”

Bradley Canning, New Scotland’s assessor, and Douglas LaGrange, the town’s supervisor, declined to comment. 

The town filed the law with the New York Department of State on June 27, 2017.

The plaintiffs argue that the town “did not satisfy the statutory requirements” of the state’s Real Property Tax Law “for opting out of the exemption” because New Scotland failed to file a copy of its 2017 opt-out law with either the Department of Taxation or NYSERDA.

The filing went on to say, “Indeed, Petitioner, along with other affected parties, had no way of knowing that the Town had opted out, as it had failed to file its local law with either DTF or NYSERDA…”

New Scotland is listed on the Department of Taxation and Finance’s website as having filed “copies of local laws or resolutions opting out of the real property tax exemption for certain energy systems.” The NYSERDA website links back to the Tax Department’s list of opted-out municipalities.