Town and firefighters spurn exemption

New benefit seen as a burden with small payoff

By TOM KANE

HORTONVILLE, NY — “This exemption is going to cost the town more than any savings that will come to volunteer firefighters or emergency personnel. Who needs it?,” town council member Kevin Connor asked.

Firefighters, present at the public hearing for a new Town of Delaware law on February 15, had the same reaction.

The exemption, the result of the state “omnibus emergency services volunteer incentive act,” allows municipalities to provide a 10-percent reduction in property assessments on property owned by volunteer firefighters and ambulance personnel.

“Why didn’t they offer a 10-percent reduction in the actual tax?” said Jim Scheutzow, town supervisor. “That would have real value. I’m in favor of helping firemen, but I don’t think this legislation achieves what the legislators wished to achieve.”

“The main problem is that many of the volunteers are young and do not own real property,” said Tess McBeath, town clerk.

All the fire companies in the town were represented at the meeting. The board unanimously approved the measure despite the objections.

“If it were a reduction of the income tax, it would be a real incentive for more people to volunteer to be firefighters,” McBeath said.

McBeath said that town tax assessors would have the job of keeping the records of the exemptions that have to be renewed every year. “It’s a burden on the assessors with a very small pay-off,” she said.

McBeath said that the average savings to the firefighters and other volunteers would amount to about $40 a year.