§ 6306. Exemption from taxation

(a) The rights and interests in real property acquired by a municipality or State agency under the authority of this chapter shall be considered as municipal or State-owned land, as the case may be, with respect to taxation and State reimbursement in lieu of taxes.

(b)(1) The Commissioner of Taxes may certify that real property acquired by a qualified organization under this chapter is being held and maintained for the purposes expressed in section 6301 of this title. As a condition of that certification, the Commissioner may require that the qualified organization provide adequate assurances that the property is being so held and maintained, including written agreements with the Department of Taxes, deeds, covenants or other conveyances. Property which is so certified:

(A) if in the nature of an interest in fee simple, shall be assessed on the basis of its actual use, or may be enrolled by the qualifying organization in a current use program under 32 V.S.A. chapter 124; or

(B) shall be exempt from assessment and taxation, if in the nature of an interest other than fee simple.

(2) For purposes of this section, where a qualified organization holds a lease in the property for a term greater than ten years, including renewal terms, or holds such other interests as the Commissioner shall determine to be substantially equivalent to an interest in fee simple, the organization shall be deemed to hold an interest in fee simple.

(3) A certification granted to a qualified agency shall first affect the April 1 grand list following the date that all information deemed necessary by the Commissioner has been provided by the qualified organization.

(c) After acquisition by a municipality, State agency or qualified organization of a right or interest in real property under the authority of this chapter, the owner of any remaining right or interest therein not so acquired shall be taxed, under the applicable provisions of 32 V.S.A. chapter 123, only upon the value of those remaining rights or interests to which he or she retains title. The State agency or qualified organization, and the Department of Taxes, shall cooperate with that owner, and with the town assessing such tax, in the determination of the fair market value of any such remaining right or interest.

(d) Property held by a qualified organization and taxed or exempted under subsection (b) of this section shall be subject to a conversion tax if the Commissioner determines that it is no longer being held and maintained for the purposes expressed in section 6301 of this title. The amount of the conversion tax shall be five times the amount of the taxes avoided by reason of the exemption in the most recent year. The conversion tax shall be paid to the municipality in which the property is located. (Added 1969, No. 229 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; amended 1987, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 45; 1997, No. 60, § 68c; 2013, No. 73, § 26, eff. July 1, 2005, eff. June 5, 2013.)