IN RE: Pauline STERBEN (2007)

Petitioners submitted complaints seeking to reduce their property assessments and, when they appeared before respondent Board of Assessment Review of the Town of Amherst (Board), the Board requested additional information from them.   The Board thereafter dismissed the complaints based on petitioners' willful failure to submit the requested documents (see RPTL 525[2][a] ).   Petitioners then sought small claims assessment review pursuant to RPTL article 7, title 1-A, and the Hearing Officer determined that petitioners were not entitled to a reduction in their assessments because the Board had dismissed their complaints pursuant to RPTL 525.

 Supreme Court erred in granting that part of the petition in this CPLR article 78 proceeding for a de novo hearing with respect to petitioners' property assessments, and we conclude that the court should have dismissed the petition in its entirety.  “When a Hearing Officer's determination [under title 1-A of RPTL article 7] is challenged, the court's role is limited to ascertaining whether the determination has a rational basis” (Matter of Meola v. Assessor of Town of Colonie, 207 A.D.2d 593, 594, 615 N.Y.S.2d 506, lv. denied 84 N.Y.2d 812, 622 N.Y.S.2d 915, 647 N.E.2d 121;  see Matter of McNamara v. Board of Assessors of Town of Smithtown, 272 A.D.2d 617, 709 N.Y.S.2d 821).   Petitioners failed to respond to the Board's request for further documentation pursuant to RPTL 525(2)(a), and the Hearing Officer's determination with respect to each petitioner has a rational basis inasmuch as the record supports the determinations of the Board that petitioners' failure to comply with the request for documentation was willful (see Matter of Gelber Enters., LLC v. Williams, 41 A.D.3d 1207, 838 N.Y.S.2d 330, 2007 WL 1652394 [June 8, 2007];  Matter of Town of Babylon v. Perry, 230 A.D.2d 802, 803, 646 N.Y.S.2d 623, lv. denied 89 N.Y.2d 813, 658 N.Y.S.2d 243, 680 N.E.2d 617).

It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment insofar as appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously reversed on the law without costs and the petition is dismissed in its entirety.

MEMORANDUM: