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Brentwood board reviews raising income limits for senior, disabled school tax exemptions; district says levy unchanged
Summary
Brentwood schools presented options to raise income thresholds for senior- and disability-related school tax exemptions under New York Real Property Tax Law; officials said the district's levy would not change but the exemption would shift a modest additional burden to other homeowners — about $88 a year in one scenario.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Stacy O'Connor on Thursday outlined proposals to raise the income limits that determine eligibility for the district's school tax exemptions for senior citizens and for disabled homeowners.
O'Connor said the changes would fall under the Real Property Tax Law sections governing senior exemptions (§467) and disabled-person exemptions (§459‑c). Under the district's current rules, taxpayers with household income at or below $24,000 may be eligible for a 50% credit on the school portion of their property tax bill, with a sliding scale up to $32,400 where the credit falls to about 5%. For disabled homeowners, O'Connor said the 50% threshold is $18,500, with a sliding scale to $26,900.
"We currently have a senior citizen exemption, but we can enhance that," O'Connor said, presenting a chart comparing Brentwood's income limits with neighboring districts. She said Brentwood sits at the lower end of eligibility thresholds and described a scenario in which raising the eligibility limit to $50,000 would expand the number of senior households receiving the 50% school-tax exemption from 338 to roughly 871, and increase qualifying disabled homeowners from 5 to about 18.
O'Connor said the district's tax levy request to the Town of Islip would remain the same, so the money supporting the exemption would be shifted to other taxpayers in the district. "The tax burden of that exemption would shift to other households," she said, adding that one modeled outcome would be an estimated cost of about $88 per year for a non-qualifying homeowner in that scenario.
She noted that the board could raise the thresholds incrementally — for example, moving a disabled-person limit from $16,800 to $20,000 and later to $25,000 — but cautioned that once raised the district could not later decrease the threshold. The board was told it would need to adopt any change in January or February for it to take effect in the 2026–27 school-tax year.
Board members did not vote on a change at the meeting; O'Connor invited further questions and said the board would consider the options at a future meeting. "We would have to vote on that either January or February for that to take effect in the '26–'27 tax year," she said.
