Gloak said his department recommended that municipalities use their “taxable status date” — Nassau County’s is Jan. 2 — as the deadline for school boards to opt in. Gloak stressed that this was only a recommendation.

“That’s not binding on the school districts,” Gloak said. “If they can work it out with the county that they want to opt in after that date, that’s fine.”

In most New York counties, local municipalities handle property assessments. Nassau and Tompkins County, in Central New York, have the only county governments that assess property values. The taxable status date — the date on which assessors value the condition and ownership of property for taxation purposes — is March 1 for most towns and villages. Nassau’s Administrative Code, however, sets its taxable status date as Jan. 2.

In an email to the Herald on Tuesday, the Department of Taxation and Finance stated that it had discussed the matter with Nassau County officials to make clear that “our recommendation regarding adoption of the exemption prior to taxable status date is not binding, and whether the exemption could be offered this year is a local decision.” Davis nevertheless wrote in a later email that the county Department of Assessment would abide by the state Department of Taxation and Finance’s recommendation.

Assemblyman Michael Cusick, the main sponsor of the bill Cuomo signed; State Sen. Greg Ball, chairman of the Senate's Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee; and a representative of the governor’s office were unavailable for comment at press time.

David Feller, superintendent of the North Merrick School District and president of the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents, said he thinks the county Department of Assessment should “accept responsibility for the confusion.”

“The North Merrick Board of Education, acting in good faith and with the March 15 deadline that had been given to us, passed the resolution in support of our veterans on March 11 with the full understanding that this would take effect in the 2014-15 year,” Feller added.