New York Disabled Veterans Full Property Tax Exemption Nearing Completion

Blooming Grove Supervisor holds up the latest update version of

New York's New Disabled Veteran Full Property Tax Exemption

(blue highlighted sections no longer apply)

At left - Deputy Supervisor Cathy Gregg-Acevedo

At right, Simon Schwartz, Ward Rep for Village of South Blooming Grove

Town of Blooming Grove Assessor, Vanessa Kelder-Yaun, has finished presenting the results of another round of the New York State Zoom Session clarifications and updates that the State has been crafting with the goal of giving all “Disabled Veterans” a Full Property Tax Exemption.

Photo above: Blooming Grove Assessor, Vanessa Kelder-Yaun, with Town Attorney Brian Nugent, discussing the the new Disabled Veterans Tax Exemption Code soon to be implemented for all of New York State. Municipalities will have the choice to Opt-In, using the State's completed version, or Opt-Out and modify where they think is necessary.

The complexity and pile of rewrites from Albany has made this process nearly impossible. Blooming Grove Supervisor, Rob Jeroloman pointed out that New Jersey and other states in the region established a procedure and working final code relatively quickly while as is shown in the picture taken at Tuesday night's Board Meeting many of New York's updates are cancellations of parts of what was the new code i.e. the blue in the latest update, is highlighting parts of the new code that are now eliminated. Passed down to local Assessors it has been a nightmare. While other residents were attending Memorial "We will not forget" services many area assessors were busy following yet another Zoom Tax Property Exemption Session.

The dedication Town Assessor, Vanessa Yaun has shown during several years of developing, rewriting, and presenting to a public with high interest (only to have it changed by the State again and again) has been a Master’s Class lesson in patience and determination. Thankfully the Disabled Veterans Prroperty Exemption Code is nearing the finish line and is expected to be PASSED after one more ZOOM Session for Assessors on October 1.

The details of this new tax code have become so complex that the State gave municipalities the choice to “Opt In” on their latest version, or “Opt Out” and either design their own version or put together a hybrid version including the State’s version plus any adaptations they feel are necessary. Most of the main content and application procedure is now settled and with one more Zoom Meeting scheduled for October 1st everyone involved is hoping it will then become law.

Discussion of the several remaining concerns during this review included:

1. What will the final number of veterans be that the Bureau of Veterans Affairs considers the final qualifying total for Blooming Grove. As of  now, Vanessa said “The total looks to be about 77 qualifying individuals.” However, she added that she thought it has the potential to go as high as 100 when the final analysis is done, and may change over time assuming additional members in Military Service become disabled.

 2. How does “Totally disabled” get quantified and how is it that some veterans qualify as fully disabled and yet are permitted to work at least part-time as long as it is not military-related work?

The assignment of whether a veteran qualifies as fully disabled has already been incorporated in the VA Code in a Master List. Letters affirming full disability will be sent to qualifying veterans. VETERANS RECEIVING SUCH A LETTER ARE ASKED TO DISCUSS ANY ISSUES ABOUT IT WITH THEIR MUNICIPAL ASSESSOR WHEN THE NEW CODE IS OFFICIALLY INSTITUTED!

A veteran in the audience clarified that the definition of Veteran Disability is based on “Inability to continue functioning at the job they performed in the Service”

 3. There is some concern that residents who live in small Special Districts (Water and Sewer)  could potentially get a significant bump in tax costs IF the number of disabled veterans numbers are high in that district, because the amount deducted by Disabled Veterans will be paid by the remaining district members. A preliminary look at two of the Town Districts indicates that given the number of eligible veterans in those 2 districts it would not at this time be a significant increase for the other residents in those districts. But that could change over time and its potential to become an unfair burden remains if there a very small district has a high number of disabled veterans, and so this effect will need to be continually monitored and considered, perhaps setting an increase cap per district.

4. Lastly, there was some confusion about former service members who were identified as LGBTQ, a significant number of which the VA considers were discharged via discriminatory policy”. This was an eligibility issue that 2 board members brought up, one suggesting that "Could someone therefore just announce themselves as belonging to one of those orientations to qualify for disability?" Another suggested they should drop the subject. Yaun will likely give additional clarification as to eligibility for LGBTQ Veterans who were discharged without offense.