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Connetquot board approves higher income thresholds for senior and disabled property tax exemptions
Summary
The Connetquot Central School District Board held a public hearing and approved resolutions to raise the income limits for New York State property tax exemptions for low-income seniors and low-income disabled persons; officials said the change will shift an estimated $1.16 million in school levy and reduce bills for a small number of qualifying households.
The Connetquot Central School District Board of Education held a public hearing and voted to approve property-tax-law resolutions to raise the district’s income eligibility for the 50% senior exemption and expand the sliding scale for disabled households.
Robert Hauser, assistant superintendent for business and operations, presented the proposal and its estimated fiscal effects: "Right now, the district is at the maximum income eligibility limit of $29,000 for a 50% exemption on the school taxes only, with a sliding scale... We are proposing to... raise that maximum income limit to $50,000 for a 50% exemption and then all the way up to $58,400 with the sliding scale." He said the change would shift about $5.33 million in assessed value for seniors and about $161,941 for the disability exemption and estimated a levy shift of "$1,157,649.96" to the remaining taxpayers.
During public comment, a resident who worked with the assessor’s office urged the board to adopt the higher limits, saying the change would directly help vulnerable neighbors. "When I sat down with everybody on the board, I gave each member a green binder with all the merits of this program," the resident said, noting examples of households with low total incomes who would benefit.
The board moved the resolutions from the agenda and approved them after the hearing. The approvals were taken as part of the consent/agenda votes recorded by the president; individual recorded tallies were not announced during the meeting minutes.
Next steps: the approved income limits will be implemented administratively and reflected on qualifying households’ school tax bills in the following billing cycle, and board members asked district staff to publicize the eligibility changes and contact information for assistance with applications.
(Reporting note: vote tallies and individual member votes were not specified in the transcript.)
