§ 720. Action by court upon the pleadings. 1. (a) If the court\ndetermines from the pleadings for any of the reasons alleged in the\npetition that the assessment being reviewed is unlawful it shall order\nthe assessment stricken from the roll or where appropriate entered on\nthe exempt portion of the roll.\n (b) If the court determines that the assessment being reviewed is\nexcessive or unequal, it shall order a revised assessment of the real\nproperty of the petitioner or the correction of the assessment upon the\nroll, in whole or in part, in such manner as shall be in accordance with\nlaw or as shall make it conform to other assessments upon the same roll\nand secure equality of assessment, provided, however, that except in\ncities with a population of one million or more an assessment may not be\nordered reduced to an amount less than that requested by the petitioner\nin a petition or any amended petition verified pursuant to section seven\nhundred six of this title. If the real property is partially exempt from\ntaxation, and the order does not specify how much of the total assessed\nvalue, as determined by the court, is exempt from taxation, the\nexemption shall be reduced so as to preserve the ratio of taxable\nassessed value to the total assessed value that existed on the final\nassessment roll.\n (c) If the court determines that the real property is misclassified,\nit shall order the correction of the class designation upon the roll.\n 2. If it appears to the court that testimony is necessary for the\nproper disposition of the matter, it shall take evidence or appoint a\nreferee to take such evidence as it may direct. The referee shall report\nto the court his findings of fact and conclusions of law and the\nevidence upon which it is based, which shall constitute a part of the\nproceedings upon which the determination of the court shall be made. The\nreport of the referee and the decision or final order of the court\nfinding the value of the property and the proper assessment thereof\nshall contain the essential facts found upon which the ultimate finding\nof facts is made.\n 3. (a) For the purposes of this subdivision:\n (1) "Major type of property" in special assessing units for\nassessments on rolls completed before January first, nineteen hundred\neighty-two and in other than special assessing units means each of the\nfollowing:\n (i) residential: all one, two and three family residential real\nproperty including such dwellings used in part for non-residential\npurposes but which are used primarily for residential purposes, except\nsuch property held in cooperative or condominium forms of ownership\nprovided, however, that in any approved assessing unit which has adopted\nthe provisions of section nineteen hundred three of this chapter the\nresidential type shall be the homestead class as defined in this\nchapter;\n (ii) farm, forest and vacant: all real property used primarily for\nagricultural or forestry purposes and all real property which contains\nno significant improvement;\n (iii) public utility: all real property primarily used for the\nprovision to the public of communications or transportation services,\nelectric power, water or gas;\n (iv) all other: all real property not included in any other major\ntype.\n (2) "Major type of property" in special assessing units, for\nassessments on rolls completed after December thirty-first, nineteen\nhundred eighty-one, shall mean classes one, two, three and four as\ndefined in subdivision one of section eighteen hundred two of this\nchapter.\n (3) "Stratified random sample" means the sorting of all taxable\nparcels except public utility property, on the assessment roll to be\nused for the selection of parcels, into a number of mutually exclusive\ncategories each of which is sampled independently in such a manner that\neach parcel in each such category shall have an equal opportunity to be\nselected.\n (b) Evidence on the issue of whether an assessment
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