Last week, Marlboro Schools Superintendent Michael Rydell gave a presentation on the Real Property Tax Law 466-a that was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2022. It allows all local governments and school districts the option to provide an exemption of up to 10% of the assessed valuation of the primary residence of volunteer firefighters and/or volunteer ambulance workers who live in the district and own the home. If the home is for mixed use purposes, only the volunteer’s residential portion is entitled to the exemption.

Rydell said this is for each taxing entity, noting that, “a school district may say we want to participate in this exemption where a county may elect to not participate in this, so it would only apply in that instance to the school taxes.”

Rydell said the exemption program has a service eligibility requirement of two years at a minimum and five years at most.

Rydell said currently there is a NYS Income Tax Credit ($200) for volunteers.

“Basically if the taxing jurisdiction were to adopt this the volunteer would need to choose one or the other, so it’s in lieu of,” he said. “If one is a renter and not the owner, therefore you’re not paying the property taxes, the tax credit still would apply to that individual.”

Rydell said if the school board approves this measure, each of the eligible volunteers will have to complete and submit a county tax exempt form. Additionally, the Fire District, or other proper authority, has to certify the eligibility of those who applied for the exemption.

“So there are some checks along the way to make sure it was done correctly,” he said.

Rydell said the school board would have to decide upon several other factors: if they want to have it in place for the 2023-24 fiscal year; what the percentage of the exemption would be; determining the years of service; and if they want to grant lifetime exemptions for those who have served their community for 20 years or more. In addition, the board could allow the transfer of the lifetime exemption to a surviving spouse of a deceased 20 year volunteer and who has not remarried.

Rydell said this program has no impact upon the school tax but said the total amount of the exemptions granted would be spread out across the rest of the town’s residents.

As an example, Rydell said that an assessed value of a primary residence at $210,000 with a maximum 10% exemption would result in a $579.39 exemption, which lowers the adjusted assessed value to $189,000. He said the $579.39 is what is spread out and paid for by the rest of the town’s taxpayers.

The school board agreed to hold a public hearing on this proposal at their February 16 meeting and if approved, the deadline for the volunteers to apply for the exemption is March 1 in order to be eligible for the 2023-24 school year.