Lead Opinion
Appeal from an amended judgment of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered in Greene County on May 31, 1979, which denied petitioner’s application pursuant to section 720 of the Real Property Tax Law, to strike certain assessments from the assessment roll of the Village of Catskill for the year 1978. The 1978 assessment roll of the Village of Catskill contained the following assessments against the name of S. Berzal Co., mailing address. "Mildred C. Berzal, P. O. Box 148, Saugerties, N.Y. 12477”; 1. "East side of Main St. Used car lot”; 2. "East side of Main St. Body shop”; 3. "281 W. Main St. H & L”, and 4. "Between 9W and W. Bridge St. Lot”. Petitioner formally protested these assessments before the Board of Assessment Review for the Village of Catskill, as to Assessments Nos. 1, 2 and 4 above, alleging, in addition to overvaluation, illegality consisting of "Property cannot be identified from description or tax map number on the assessment roll.” The board failed to reduce or correct the assessments and petitioner commenced a proceeding pursuant to article 7 of the Real Property Tax Law for a review of its determination. On March 7, 1979, petitioner moved for an order, pursuant to section 720 of the Real Property Tax Law, striking Assessments Nos. 1, 2 and 4 above set forth from the assessment roll of the Village of Catskill on the ground that said assessments do not conform to the requirements of subdivision 2 of section 502 and subdivision 1 of section 1402 of the Real Property Tax Law, and that it is impossible to tell with reasonable certainty what properties are being assessed from the description contained in the assessment roll. Subdivision 1 of section 1402 of the Real Property Tax Law provides that village assessors shall prepare an assessment roll of the real property within a village in the same manner and form required by law for the preparation of a town assessment roll. The form of assessments for a town is set forth in section 502 of the Real Property Tax Law. Subdivision 2 of that section provides as follows: "Provision shall be made with respect to each separately assessed parcel of real property for the entry, in appropriate columns, of the name of the owner, last known owner or reputed owner and a description sufficient to identify the same, including the surnames of the abutting property owners and the names of the abutting streets or highways, the approximate number of square feet, square rods or acres contained therein or a statement of the linear dimensions thereof. When a tax map has been approved by the state board, reference to the lot, block and section number or other identification numbers of any parcel on such map shall be deemed
Dissenting Opinion
dissents and votes to affirm in the following memorandum. Herlihy, J. (dissenting). The majority cites the case of Allter v Village of St. Johnsville (130 App Div 297) in support of the remedy sought by petitioner; however, in that case this court held that deficiencies in description would not support jurisdiction for a court to strike an assessment from a duly prepared and filed roll. In any event, I agree with the following portion of Special Term’s opinion: "Considering the subject assessment descriptions in the light of the above noted authorities the descriptions of the petitioner’s property appear to be quite adequate. The name of the owner is given for
