At the first public work session the Board of Education hosted to discuss the upcoming 2015-’16 budget, it was revealed that the proposed Veterans Tax Exemption that New York State had passed would not be enacted by the Garden City BOE. Now in fairness, the state pushed the decision down to the local school board level to determine whether or not it would be a go. And unlike the STAR exemptions, there would be no compensation from the state to make up for the lost property tax revenue. Instead, that difference would be shouldered by non-exempt village residents. To my knowledge, until veterans and American Legion members Dr. Joseph Fry and Walter Gross brought up this issue during the citizens comments portion of the Feb. 10 meeting, it had never come up for public discussion. And while both gentlemen were thanked for their public service and that trustee and Army veteran Robert Martin assured that “the veterans’ voice” was being heard, the board would not consider the veterans exemption based on principle.
My understanding was the principle wound up being the state forcing the school board to pull the trigger on this exemption without offering to make up the revenue and forcing fellow taxpayers to shoulder the load. I also heard that, “…an exemption doesn’t do anything for the rest of the community.” Mind you, volunteer firefighters deservedly earn a similar exemption whose missing revenue is shouldered by fellow residents. Plus according to a survey the legion conducted, there are about 51 members in Garden City with 43 of them having served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Sixty-eight percent of Long Island districts have approved this exemption and in November 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo passed a law that allowed districts to revoke the exemption should it prove to be too onerous for districts to handle. Finally, while discussions were had in BOE executive session, no studies were conducted to see what kind of an effect this exemption would have on Garden City taxpayers. And while Vice President Angela Heineman stated that there had not been, “…a groundswell from the rest of the community on this issue,” it just might be time to have this conversation even if it’s too late to enact it for the 2015-’16 tax season. Given the 2010 census revealed the population of the Village of Garden City to be 22,371, enacting the veterans exemption for roughly 51 retired military personnel goes a lot further than thanking them for their service.
—Dave Gil de Rubio
