Local veterans have been critical of Freeport officials since the village announced that it would not immediately adopt a 100 percent property tax exemption for some disabled veterans that state officials approved earlier this year. Village officials say they do not have enough information on how the exemption would be rolled out.
Two similar bills, approving the exemption for veterans with disabilities that resulted from their service, were passed by the State Senate and Assembly beginning last year. The Senate bill was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul last December, and the Assembly bill in February.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs assigns disability ratings based on the severity of a veteran’s “service-connected condition,” which determine how much disability compensation he or she may receive. According to the new law, a veteran with what is deemed a “permanent and total” disability is eligible for the full property tax exemption.
The bill further states that any county, city, town, village or school district in the state may adopt the legislation. The exemption began to be implemented in municipalities that opted in on Oct. 1.
Freeport, however, is not yet among the municipalities that have adopted the measure, which Gulf War veteran and Freeport resident Chad Parson took to Facebook on Sept. 24 to make public.
“I was told today that the Village of Freeport has decided not to adopt the new exemption,” Parson wrote. “That means qualifying disabled veterans in Freeport will not receive the new full exemption on their village taxes.”
The Herald confirmed that the village had not yet adopted the exemption. Parson told the Herald that he had reached out to the Freeport school district to see if intended to adopt the measure, but had not received a response.
“The village is currently awaiting guidance from the state of New York as to how we are to implement the law,” Village Attorney Howard Colton wrote in a response to Parson’s post. “The way the law is structured, the state has to provide a formula and other ways for us to determine certain elements of disability. Once that guidance comes from the state, then the village will be able to see the impact of the ordinance.”
Mayor Robert T. Kennedy and Deputy Village Attorney Robert Mclaughlin echoed Colton’s comments at a village board meeting on Sept. 28, which Parson and several other local veterans attended.
“We just need all the information,” Mclaughlin said. “Instead of doing two or three different presentations with whatever information changes, you get all the information at once and do it one time and correctly.”
Kennedy noted his own status as a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, and affirmed his support for his fellow Freeport veterans.
Other local veterans have told the Herald that they plan to continue attending village board meetings, and pressuring local leaders to adopt the exemption.
“It is important, because as veterans, we’re not working,” Marie Carmel Houanche, a Freeport veteran and the chaplain of American Legion Post 342, said. “In other places, the taxes [have] gone down, and we haven’t gotten that benefit also.”
