Four months after passing a local law to give volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers a ten percent property tax exemption, municipal leaders in the Town of Ulster have introduced a new law to ensure they’ve included everyone.
“First question is somebody’s going to ask, we thought we did this,” said Supervisor James E. Quigley, III at a town board meeting held on Thursday, January 18.
The original local law passed by council members in late September of last year, applied to assessment rolls prepared on the basis of taxable status dates on or after December 31, 2023. The exemption is granted to enrolled members of an incorporated volunteer fire company, fire department or incorporated voluntary ambulance service residing in the Town of Ulster for a primary residence owned within the municipality.
If the property isn’t used exclusively as the applicant’s primary residence, the portion used for other purposes would still be subject to taxation, with only the remaining portion eligible for the exemption. A rental property owned by a volunteer firefighter or ambulance worker, for example, would not qualify for the exemption.
Under New York State General Municipal Law, service is defined by the accrual of 50 points in the service award program during an anniversary year. Points are accrued in a variety of ways, including participation in a single training session; participation in a single drill; completion of a single work night; election or appointment to a position within the volunteer company, including as a delegate to a firefighter’s or ambulance worker’s convention; teaching a public education fire prevention class without compensation to a school, non-profit or civics organization; attendance at an official meeting of a volunteer company; and participation in a single response and/or standby.
Volunteers who are either temporarily and totally, or partially and permanently disabled as certified by the workers compensation board, are eligible for five points for each full month of disability. Un-remarried surviving spouses of volunteers killed in the line of duty are also eligible for the exemption.
Reintroducing a revised version of that law was necessary, officials said. “After their original local law was passed it was brought to our attention that not every one of our fire districts could qualify for the town portion of this exemption,” said town assessor Miranda Bernholz. “We had to basically broaden the overview of the requirements for the local law so all of our fire districts’ members have an equal opportunity to qualify for this exemption as they all contribute to the safety of the town.”
The town board agreed to streamline the legislative process to allow for the law to be adopted prior to March 1.
Timber harvest request
Also discussed during the meeting was an application brought by Valerie and Wayne Marquino for a special permit for timber harvest on a 26-acre parcel on Route 9W, a property Quigley described as being adjacent to the large water tower in the northern part of the Ulster Water District and approximately across the street from Bread Alone.
“If I recall correctly, there’s approximately 350 mature trees in excess of a specific diameter,” Quigley said. “I don’t have the exact diameter. The 26-acre parcel has been marked by a licensed forester. The intention is to thin out the mature trees to remove the canopy so that the underlying growth and the younger trees can receive more sunlight and grow better.”
A public hearing for the timber harvest request was scheduled for the next town board meeting on Thursday, February 1 at 7:10 p.m., during which a presentation will be made by the forester.
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