My name is Walter Gross and I’ve lived here in Garden City for almost 37 years. I am a United States Air Force veteran who served as a Minuteman Missile Launch Officer (Captain) in the Strategic Air Command from 1969 to 1972. I am a board member and adjutant of The William Bradford Turner American Legion Post 265 here in Garden City.
I appeared briefly at the Feb. 10 board of education meeting seeking the board of educations (BOE) support, since this partial school tax exemption must by law, be approved by the Garden City BOE. After listening to my short statement we were told that the BOE briefly considered the partial exemption, but did not approve it. Board Vice President Heineman, as reported in the Feb.18 issue of Garden City Life, suggested that there was “no groundswell from the rest of the community” for approval of this exemption. After speaking with some community leaders, it is my belief that the reason that there has been “no groundswell” for approval is that our community has not been well informed about it. Please allow me to add some key information.
Our American Legion Post was founded in 1919 and is named in honor of William Bradford Turner, a Garden City resident who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Valor during the First World War. Since it’s founding, the Post has been an active supporter of the youth in our very special community. Today our Post sponsors the village’s annual Memorial Day parade, and Veterans Day and Wreaths Across America ceremonies. Together with our Auxiliary, we sponsor the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in our village. The Post also presents a number of annual awards at the Garden City High School and Middle School, sponsors Boys’ State and Girls’ State representatives, as well as granting Citizenship Awards to select students at the two grammar schools. Additionally, the Post presents a scholarship to a graduating Garden City High School senior who attends Hofstra University. Our Auxiliary and members make regular trips to the VA Hospital in Northport to provide comfort to veterans not as fortunate as ourselves.
There are veterans and widows of veterans living in each of the four Property Owners Associations in Garden City. For all of our veterans, our American Legion Post is petitioning the Garden City Board of Education to reconsider and approve the Veterans’ School Tax Exemption Bill, which will grant certain partial school tax exemptions to qualifying and applying veterans living in the village. The exemption would be based upon criteria such as different levels of service, disabilities, awards like The Purple Heart and Gold Star parents—those who have tragically lost a son or daughter in combat. These awards would be similar to the veterans’ partial exemptions for Town of Hempstead and Garden City Village property taxes, which have been in place for many years.
The majority of Garden City veterans and widows of veterans are retirees living on a relatively fixed income as compared to the rest of our village residents. For example, our Post has 51 members living in our village, almost 85 percent of whom served at least 42 years ago: 14 during the WWII, nine in Korea and 20 during the Vietnam era.
Importantly, the BOE’s approval will have no effect on the size of the school budget. Any exemptions approved for our veterans would be passed back to the remaining school taxpayers in our school district, similarly to the current volunteer firefighter’s exemption. It works this way in every school district. The Town of Hempstead has confirmed that it is not possible to precisely predict the effect on individual nonveteran taxpayers, but annual cost estimates have ranged from $55 to $200 per household in other districts.
There are a total of 56 public school districts in Nassau County. Only Bethpage, Lynbrook, Lawrence, Roosevelt, Hempstead and Garden City have chosen NOT to approve this partial veterans school tax exemption for their veterans.
Vice President Heineman said on Feb. 10 that if enough people come forward in favor of this veterans’ partial school tax exemption, the BOE could reconsider it. So please join us as we invite all veterans and all villagers who support our veterans, to attend the open school board meeting on May 12 in the Garden City High School Library at 8 p.m., to demonstrate to the BOE the “groundswell of support from the rest of the community” that Vice President Heineman said is missing.
For God and Country,
Walter J. Gross
