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Real Property director outlines potential tax impacts: solar appraisal changes, veterans and senior exemptions, postage increase
Summary
The director of Real Property Tax Services updated the Greene County Legislature on state bills and local impacts, including a change to the solar appraisal model, a veterans’ exemption measure and an expanded senior exemption scale.
The director of Real Property Tax Services updated the Greene County Legislature on several state developments he said will affect local assessments, tax exemptions and county costs.
The director said postage-rate increases that took effect this week will raise mailing costs for tax bills by 5–7 cents per mail piece, increasing county mailing expenses by an estimated 2–8% depending on class of mail.
He told the Legislature that three New York state bills passed both houses and were awaiting delivery to the governor. One, a change tied to solar-appraisal law, will alter the county appraisal model for utility-scale solar by allowing certain federal tax credits and host-community payments to be treated differently in the discounted cash flow model. “They’re they're now going to be able to include in the appraisal model… the rec credits from the federal government,” the director said. He said the change also allows decommissioning costs and host-community agreement payments to be treated as expenses in the appraisal, which the director warned could depress the assessed value of solar fields under the statutory model over time.
A second bill he described would create a 100% exemption for certain 100% disabled veterans; the bill had passed and awaited the governor’s action. The director said he will calculate local fiscal impacts and noted that adopting the exemption locally would require a local law.
A third bill would change senior citizen exemptions to a sliding “m-minus” scale rising to 65% (up from prior maximums used by some municipalities). The director provided preliminary analysis showing that the senior exemption change, combined with the veterans exemption, could increase the average homeowner’s tax burden by roughly $15–$25 depending on school district levies and local adoption — a result he said he will refine with further analysis.
The director said the department will return with more detailed fiscal impact analyses and draft local-law language if the Legislature wishes to adopt any of the optional exemptions.
