The Saugerties Village Board will consider possible tax breaks for senior citizens, board members said during its meeting on Monday, June 3. Trustee Donald Hackett said that he had just received his tax bill, and he was concerned that long-term residents of the village might be unable to pay their taxes and stay in their homes. For residents who have lived in a home for 30 or more years; “I would like to see some discussion of giving them a tax break,” Hackett said. He told trustee Andrew Zink that while he is young, he should be aware that in 30 years from now, “you might need that break.”
Murphy said in the county government he spoke to some of the legislators and they mentioned that: somewhere in the Westchester-Putnam area, they put a tax freeze on any homeowner who was in their house for 30 years, so with property values and assessments going up the tax burden would be on newer homeowners and not on longstanding homeowners.”
With that tax you get the STAR and the Enhanced STAR benefit, trustee Terry Parisian said. This offers tax relief, especially for school taxes, for elderly taxpayers. There are also discounts for military veterans and volunteer firefighters, trustees pointed out.
However, “even if we give something back, that doesn’t mean the school is going to,” Parisian said. “We’re not giving any money back,” mayor Bill Murphy said. “For people living here over 30 years, their taxes won’t go up; that’s not the same as giving money back.”
Hackett pointed out that the wife of a veteran who had been receiving the military discount dies, his widow does not continue to receive the discount.
“This is a bigger issue than just us, but I agree with giving anything that we can,” Parisian said. The village’s installment tax payment plan, allowing residents to work out individual installment payment plans, rather than having to pay it all at once, helps taxpayers, he added.
While the village board can’t control the military discount, which comes from the federal government, “we can extend it to a widow of a firefighter or emergency worker at our own discretion,” Murphy said.
“I think it’s worth looking into, but it’s at a higher level than us. I’ve been on the school board for years, and we have always looked at alternative ways of funding education, because that’s where your biggest tax comes from,” Parisian said. On the other hand, “anything that will help is worth looking into.”
The board decided to continue discussing the possible actions it could take and the best way to go about it.”
Village board discusses sewer plant upgrade
Water and sewer plant supervisor Mike Hopf met with engineers Brinier and Larios recently to discuss the proposed sewer plant upgrades. While engineer Dennis Larios has not been officially appointed to present the plans, he has been working on the upgrade and “he knows the ins and outs of the plant,” Hackett said. Larios also put the proposal together, so he is the logical engineer to present them. “That will be the first step in the upgrades.”
Later in the meeting, trustees discussed the ongoing problem of sewer plant odors. While Trustee Terry Parisian said he has not noticed odors recently, trustee Vincent Buono said he has noticed odors from the plant, but not the continuous odors that had been extremely irritating. Hackett explained that during the holiday, there was no processing being done at the plant. “Whenever they process, there’s more odor because they are working on the digester, bringing it down. That’s one of the things we’re working on through the upgrades.”
Both Buono and Parisian said the plant was doing better than it had been in the past. Parisian said he did not notice any odor, and Buono said the odor came in short bursts rather than lingering for hours.
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