First Responder’s Property Exemption February 8, 2022
“Real property owned by an enrolled member of an incorporated
volunteer fire company, fire department, or incorporated voluntary ambulance service or such enrolled member and spouse residing in any county having a population of more than seven hundred thirty-five thousand and less than seven hundred fifty thousand inhabitants, based upon and recorded by the 2010 federal census, shall be exempt from taxation to the extent of ten percent of the assessed value of such property for city, village, town, part town, special district, school district, fire district, or county, after a public hearing, adopts a local law, ordinance or resolution providing therefor.”
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What does This Mean? Let’s break it down!
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To Qualify + Enrolled member of a volunteer fire department or ambulance service + Certified member for at least two years + Must reside in the city/town/village served by the fire or ambulance service + Must be primary residence and used exclusively for residential purposes + 20 years or more will be granted the exemption for life + And a resident of Monroe County
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What does the district need to do
After a Public Hearing
Pass a Board resolution
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Why not a Voter Proposition? + Any proposition of this nature is called an advisory proposition + Commissioner of Education strongly discourages + There are many commissioners decisions that negate the results of these types of propositions + Golf team addition decision + Increase budget to pay for charter decision
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Still Outstanding Impact
Total Shift
Technicalities
With any exemption, when one group receives an exemption the rest of the properties pick up the difference
Estimated at $750,000 in overall assessment reduction with the data we have as of right now
What about the properties on borders where fire/ambulance coverage overlaps?
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Why is this same/different from Veterans Exemption? First Responder’s
Veteran’s
Straightforward 10% reduction
3 Tiers of exemptions with 11 different levels
Early indications that this would be about 100 properties on the conservative estimate side
In 2015 that was 2,388 total parcels
Average exemption about $16,000 based on early data
“No impact on budget or financial operations”
Shift is in the tens of millions of dollars
“No impact on budget or financial operations” Original 2021-22
Impacted 2021-22
Variance
Penfield
$22.684554
$22.688531
$0.003976
Webster
$26.780357
$26.785051
$0.004694
Rate Impact
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Questions?
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