IN RE: NY FARMINGTON I (2026)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

It is hereby ORDERED that the order and judgment so appealed from is unanimously modified on the law by denying that part of the motion seeking summary judgment on the first cause of action to the extent that it asserts that petitioners were entitled to an exemption under RPTL 487 (2) with respect to respondent Town of Farmington's portion of the 2023 assessment roll and granting the cross-motion insofar as it seeks summary judgment dismissing the petition-complaint except to the extent that the first cause of action asserts that petitioners were entitled to an exemption under RPTL 487 (2) with respect to the Palmyra-Macedon Central School District portion of the 2023 assessment roll, and as modified the order and judgment is affirmed without costs.

Memorandum: Petitioners-plaintiffs (petitioners) own parcels of land in respondent-defendant Town of Farmington (Town) on which they constructed solar energy systems within the meaning of RPTL 487 (1) (b). In February 2023, petitioners each applied for an exemption from property taxes for the 2023-2024 tax year pursuant to RPTL 487 (2), which, in relevant part, provides that real property that includes a solar energy system “shall be exempt from taxation to the extent of any increase in the value thereof by reason of the inclusion of such solar ․ energy system” for a period of 15 years. Respondents-defendants Assessor for Town of Farmington (Assessor) and Board of Assessment Review for Town of Farmington (Board) denied the applications on the ground that the Town had adopted a local law in 2016 opting out of the property tax exemption as permitted by RPTL 487 (8) (a). The local law was adopted more than two years before petitioners constructed their solar energy systems.

Following denial of the applications, petitioners commenced this hybrid RPTL article 7 proceeding and declaratory judgment action against the Town, the Assessor, and the Board (collectively, respondents) challenging the denial of the exemption and seeking a declaration that the local law adopted by the Town is invalid because it was not filed with the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), as required by RPTL 487 (8) (a), until 2021, some three years after petitioners constructed their solar energy systems.

Supreme Court granted in part petitioners’ motion for summary judgment on the petition-complaint (petition) and denied respondents’ cross-motion to dismiss the petition pursuant to CPLR 3211 or, in the alternative, for summary judgment dismissing the petition. Relying on Matter of Laertes Solar, LLC v Assessor of the Town of Harford (182 AD3d 826, 827-828 [3d Dept 2020], lv dismissed in part & denied in part 35 NY3d 1119 [2020] [hereinafter Laertes]), the court determined that, although the Town filed its local law with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DOTF) as well as with the Secretary of State, its failure to file the law with NYSERDA until 2021 rendered the law ineffectual with respect to petitioners’ solar energy systems, which were constructed prior to the NYSERDA filing (see RPTL 487 [8] [a]). As relevant to this appeal, the court granted that part of the motion with respect to the first cause of action insofar as it challenged the denial of the exemption for the Town and local school district portions of the assessment roll for the 2023-2024 taxable year; ordered, adjudged, and decreed that respondents’ refusal to grant the exemption was “unlawful”; and denied the declaratory relief requested in the second and third causes of action. Respondents appeal.

As a preliminary matter, we note that “[a] declaratory judgment action is ․ an inappropriate procedural vehicle for challenging the denial of a partial property tax exemption,” and thus this is properly only an RPTL article 7 proceeding (Matter of LAPC Lofts, LLC v City of Buffalo Dept. of Assessment & Taxation, 155 AD3d 1539, 1540 [4th Dept 2017]; see generally Cablevision Sys. Dev. Co. v Board of Assessors of County of Nassau, 49 NY2d 866, 867 [1980]; Schachtler Stone Prods., LLC v Town of Marshall, 209 AD3d 1316, 1319 [4th Dept 2022]).

With respect to the merits of respondents’ contentions, we note that although the court was required to follow the holding in Laertes, which was the only appellate authority in New York at the time and was thus “binding on all trial-level courts in the state” (People v Turner, 5 NY3d 476, 482 [2005]), we are not so constrained (see generally Mountain View Coach Lines v Storms, 102 AD2d 663, 665 [2d Dept 1984]). For the reasons set forth in Matter of Solar Advocate Dev., LLC v Assessor for Town of E. Bloomfield (— AD3d — [July 24, 2026] [4th Dept 2026]), decided herewith, we conclude that the Town's failure to file its local law with NYSERDA until 2021 had no effect on the law's validity because RPTL 487 (8) (a) does not expressly provide that a local law or resolution opting out of the tax exemption for qualified energy systems “shall not take effect until a copy thereof is filed with the specified state agency or agencies” (RPTL 497 [2]).

We therefore modify the order and judgment by denying that part of petitioners’ motion seeking summary judgment on the first cause of action to the extent that it asserts that petitioners were entitled to an exemption under RPTL 487 (2) with respect to the Town's portion of the 2023 assessment roll and granting respondents’ cross-motion insofar as it seeks summary judgment dismissing the petition except insofar as it asserts that petitioners were entitled to an exemption under RPTL 487 (2) with respect to the Palmyra-Macedon Central School District portion of the 2023 assessment roll.

Entered: July 24, 2026

Ann Dillon Flynn

Clerk of the Court