The East Hampton Town Board appears poised to amend the town code to increase the property tax exemption for senior citizens and disabled persons with limited income, based on their income level.
Last month, New York State legislators amended the real property tax law to raise the maximum income eligibility for senior citizens and the disabled from $29,000 to $50,000. “This is a program the town has in place already, where we exclude a certain portion of the assessed value of the property from taxation based upon the income level of the senior or the disabled person on limited income,” John Jilnicki, the town attorney, told the town board on Tuesday. In East Hampton, the maximum income eligibility was last revised in 2007.
The law’s purpose is to provide relief from increasing real property taxes. New York “has a growing number of low-income seniors on fixed incomes and persons with disabilities who have limited income who are faced with ever-increasing property taxes making it difficult for them to continue to live in and maintain their own homes,” says the bill that passed the State Assembly and Senate in May. “To lessen the burden of ever-increasing property taxes this bill provides them with much needed relief by allowing local governments the option to raise the maximum income eligibility limit.”
“This is probably a long-overdue update,” Mr. Jilnicki said. As the state has increased the exemption, “we’re looking to follow the state’s lead and increase our exemptions based on that same amount.”
Should the board vote to amend the code, the town will adopt the state’s maximum income eligibility of $50,000.
For those with an annual income of more than $3,000 but not more than $50,000, 50 percent of their property’s assessed value would be exempt from taxation. Those with an annual income of more than $50,000 and less than $51,000 would see 45 percent of assessed value exempted. Forty percent would be exempted for those with an annual income between $51,001 and $52,000.
Those with an annual income between $52,001 and $53,000 would have 35 percent of assessed value exempt from taxation. For those with an annual income between $53,001 and $53,900, 30 percent would be exempt. Twenty-five percent would be exempted from taxation for those with an annual income between $53,901 and $54,800.
Senior citizens or disabled persons with an annual income between $54,801 and $55,700 would see 20 percent of assessed value exempt from taxation. Those with an annual income between $55,701 and $56,600 would have 15 percent exempted. Between $56,601 and $57,500, 10 percent would be exempt from taxation. Lastly, those with an annual income between $57,501 and $58,400 would have a tax exemption of 5 percent.
Under the current exemption, where the maximum eligibility is set at $29,000, 236 senior citizens and five disabled persons take advantage of the tax relief, Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said.
“When you consider what we’ve just been through with Covid and inflation, this can really be a service to people that live in the Town of East Hampton,” Jeanne Nielsen of the assessor’s office told the board. “I think on the sliding scale, more people would be eligible with the higher income that have been not eligible in the past.”
A public hearing on the proposed code amendment will be scheduled for Oct. 6.
