Comptroller Issues Checks To 177 Rochester Property Owners
KINGSTON, NY (July 27, 2010)… Comptroller Elliott Auerbach completed the final piece of the veterans’ exemption puzzle this week for one hundred seventy-seven (177) Town of Rochester property owners who served in the military. Auerbach authorized refund checks to qualified veterans for overpayment to the County for their 2010 town taxes.
“The increase in the veterans’ exemptions not only prompted these refunds under section 458-a of the Real Property Tax Law, but will continue to be enjoyed by those eligible men and women who are wartime, combat zone or disabled vets,” said Auerbach.
“It’s a small way to show our gratitude to those who have served,” the Comptroller went on to say.
Another way Auerbach will demonstrate that gratitude will be to make arrangements for the veterans to personally pick up their checks at Town of Rochester Town Hall on August 6, 2010. A mailing is going out to the affected veterans on how to obtain their refunds.
Town of Rochester Supervisor Carl Chipman is pleased with the results of his town’s Local Law #1-2008 and grateful that the exemptions have been increased to their maximums. Chipman “encourages all eligible veterans to check with the town’s assessor for taxable status applications and filing dates.”
3 comments:
Eligibility requires residency. How many actually live here?
Weekend homes and abandoned buildings are NOT eligible! Where's the audit on this scam?
All vets met the eligibility requirements as proscribed by NYS Law. Great efforts have been made to correct the mistakes I inherited from the assessor who served numerous previous administrations. Our current assessor, Cynthia Stokes, has checked and double checked who is eligible for what exemption. We've put over $32,000,000 in property improvements on the assessed tax rolls in the last 2 years. Some of the houses put on the rolls had been there for many years but not accounted for. We've also found and corrected undeserved exemptions such as a corporations receiving STAR, people claiming 2 residences for STAR, unproperly documented agriculture exemptions, and a myriad of other irregularities.
I'm very proud of the work that has been done especially through the efforts of Cynthia Stokes and would welcome any audit of what we have done and will guarantee that our assessed rolls are the most accurate in the county. I had to fight to get the property inventory passed by the Town Board and we are now seeing the dividends of all of our hard work as taxpayers are being assessed their fair share.
The increase of the Veteran's Exemption to the maximum allowed by state law was the first law which we passed as a Town Board in 2008. We did not have an assessor at the time and thus the necessary info for proper billing was not passed on to the county. We discovered this this past Jannuary. Upon discovery, I along with Chythia Stokes,and our Town Clerk Kate Sergio met with Sue Tillson of Ulster County RPS and Paul Hewlett of Ulster County Finance in order to remedy the situation. The decison was made to reimburse eligible veterans after most payments were received as the tax bills with the incorrect exemptions had already been mailed out. Kate Sergio, our Town Clerk, and her deputy Christina Ferrara, have been invaluable in keeping track of things throuhout the process. We appreciate Comptroller Auerbach efforts to facilitate the process while making sure the "i's" are dotted and the "t's" crossed. The net result is that veterans will receive the exemption they earned by serving our country.
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