Assessment Roll/Tax Roll

a: Tentative assessment roll:
RETENTION: 5 years after filing
NOTES: Tentative rolls are maintained by cities, towns, assessing villages, and Tompkins and Nassau counties.

b: Final assessment roll:
RETENTION: 10 years after filing
NOTES: The official copy of the final assessment roll is filed with the county, with copies of the roll also filed with the constituent municipalities.

c: Copies of assessment rolls
RETENTION: 0 after no longer needed
NOTES: Copies of assessment rolls are maintained by counties which prepare them for towns, villages, and cities located within the county. Also includes copies of assessment rolls prepared by Westchester County cities and towns for the county.

d: Warrant copy of tax roll, including warrant or levy to collect taxes:
RETENTION: PERMANENT
NOTES: The official copy is often filed with the county. All towns turn over the warrant copy of tax roll to the county, except for Westchester County towns, and all school districts except for city school districts. Villages may turn over roll to county.

e: Non-warrant copy of tax roll prepared for internal administrative use when warrant copy is retained permanently:
RETENTION: 1 year after filing

f: Abstract of tax roll:
RETENTION: 0 after no longer needed
NOTES: An abstract is simply a summary record, with selected information from the tax roll, which may or may not be prepared. Appraise these records for potential long-term research value before destruction. Some abstracts may provide an overview of the taxation process that cannot be easily obtained from the tax rolls.

g: Non-warrant copy of tax roll prepared by the county and submitted to city or town showing county taxes:
RETENTION: 5 years
NOTES: When a county prepares its warrant for county taxes, it also prepares and send to each of the cities and towns a non-warrant copy of the city and town assessment roll showing county taxes for properties on those rolls. These non-warrant copies of city/town tax rolls, showing only county taxes and not city or town taxes, are used by the cities and towns to prepare their warrant rolls.