ALBANY - In a move to combat blight, state lawmakers want to reduce the time a property is tax-delinquent before it's foreclosed on if the buildings are vacant and abandoned.

A bill waiting for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature would shorten the tax redemption period from two years to one year for properties certified by local code enforcement agencies as vacant and abandoned.

“This bill will protect many of our historic buildings and in the same time stabilize, if not re-energize, the neighborhood,” Assemblyman John McDonald said Wednesday against the backdrop of vacant buildings on Delaware Street in Albany. “It means tax-foreclosing entities, like Albany County, like the city of Troy, like the city of Schenectady, can move these properties to new owners.”

McDonald and other local and state elected officials gathered on the South End street to discuss the legislation that's passed both the state Assembly and Senate. This specifically would target buildings deemed vacant and abandoned, and not the property owner who has fallen behind on taxes because of an illness or has died.

Every day counts when it comes to a vacant building, which can rapidly deteriorate if it’s not properly sealed and maintained, said Adam Zaranko, Albany County Land Bank executive director.

“Every day we can shave off of how long vacant properties are out there makes it that much more likely that we can return them to productive use,” he said. “One year could make or break the ability to return a property back to the tax rolls. It could make a difference between demolition or saving the building through a rehab.”

Officials said this legislation isn’t a silver bullet to the problem of vacant and abandoned buildings that plague communities across the state and the country, but it’s another tool.

The land bank has taken on hundreds of foreclosed properties throughout Albany County, identifying responsible property owners to purchase and rehabilitate them, and getting them back in use.

But how a foreclosure process works depends on where you live, and County Executive Daniel McCoy pointed out Wednesday that the county is responsible for all foreclosures, including in the city of Albany, and makes each municipality whole ahead of the county collecting back taxes.

“That becomes another burden to us that we have to be paying for everything,” he said during the news conference. “But with this bill, it will uptick the process. We can try and save a house quicker than letting it sit.”

While some cities – which often deal with the brunt of the blight – are the foreclosing entities, for the capital city that process resides with the county as part of a deal struck decades ago.

The county also has its own law on the books that tacks an additional two years to the foreclosure process, bringing the current process in Albany County to four years on average. It's unclear whether the state law could potentially supersede the county law.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said the blighted, vacant buildings are a culmination of racism and discrimination from redlining as well as decades of bad public policy.

“We need to make sure that countywide there is a sense of urgency and understanding that we cannot wait three years and then foreclose in the fourth year,” the mayor said, remarking on the county’s law that tacks two more years to the process. “We can target building by building where there is opportunity to move quickly, and we all have to come together, work together and make sure that this happens on an accelerated basis.”

The city has made changes to its code in recent years to give enforcement sharper teeth to deal with vacant buildings, including requiring an inspection when people register their buildings as vacant, Sheehan said. Officials also have provided incentives to those who register their buildings, receiving credit toward necessary permits when they move forward with rehabilitation.

Sheehan said taking a property owner to court after they’ve been cited for code violations doesn’t necessarily get them to pay the fines and fix the problem, however. If it’s owned by a limited liability corporation, there’s a chance the city may never get the owner in the court room, she said.

The fines can be levied onto the owner’s tax bill, and if it’s not paid then, it kickstarts the foreclosure process because of the delinquency.

“We don’t have any way of going in and fixing the code violation because we don’t own the building,” Sheehan said. “The key to dealing with this blight is getting it into the hands of responsible owners.”