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Good news for Lansing seniors: the Town Board will vote this month to raise income limits for seniors and people with disabilities to qualify for as much as 50% property tax exemption.  The Board voted unanimously in an emergency meeting Wednesday to set a public hearing in two weeks.  An emergency meeting was required to meet state requirements for passing the law in time for it to apply to the next tax cycle.

"The local law needs to be adopted and in place by March 1st," said Lansing Town Clerk Debbie Crandall.  "If seniors don't get their paperwork filed by March 1st they could lose their exemption.  So we wanted to make sure this is in place so that they will qualify for 2017 town and county taxes.  This will bring us up to the maximum, compared to other towns."

The percentage of tax relief seniors and disabled property owners is determined in a chart of ten income levels.  The new law, if passed, will raise the caps at each level by about $1,000.  That will mean that seniors and disabled people with incomes of up to $29,000 would qualify for a 50% reduction of their assessed property value at the low end of the income range, and those who earn between $36,500 and $37,400 would qualify for a 5% exemption.

 

	Friday morning Tompkins County Director of Assessment Jay Franklin clarified, "Lansing Fire District, by NYS law, can not extend this exemption to their taxes.  This exemption is only applicable to municipal exemptions and not special districts."

Crandall says that each taxing authority determines the amount, if any, of exemptions.  She said she would notify the school district Thursday of the Town's intention, saying that the schools have matched the Town's exemption rates historically.  She noted the County also extends the exemptions for seniors and disabled, and reductions in Solid Waste fees.  Crandall also asked that Town Liaison To The Lansing Fire Department Connie Wilcox ask the Fire Commissioners to initiate a similar exemption.

"The Fire Department doesn't allow a senior exemption or a veteran's exemption," Crandall said.  "Sometimes the seniors look at their tax bill, and their fire tax is more than their town tax, because they don't allow the senior exemption."

The Board voted unanimously to hold a public hearing on the proposed law at the beginning of its regular February 17th Town Board meeting at 6:05.  The Board is expected to vote on passing the new rates into law that evening after the public hearing.

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