The Village of Westbury held public hearings about amendments to two local laws at its Thursday, Dec. 4, meeting: one about shortening the service requirement for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers to file for a tax exemption and another clarifying the prohibition of short-term rentals.
The first public hearing was for a local law to amend Article VII of Chapter 223 of the village’s taxation code, which provides a real property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.
Village Attorney Anna Vikse said the local code had to be amended due to state code changes. She said the code will keep the same provisions, but the requirement for the volunteer service members to be eligible for the 10% tax exemption would go from five years of active service to two years of active service.
“I think the two-year exception is probably where it’s going to say,” Trustee Steven Corte said.
He said that under the new law, eligible service members will need to file for the tax exemption each year until their 20th year, after which they no longer need to reapply.
Trustee Vincent Abbatiello said lowering the eligibility requirement could also attract more volunteer firefighters to serve.
The hearing was closed, and the board unanimously approved the law. Trustee Pedro Quintanilla was absent from the meeting.
The second public hearing on the agenda was to amend Articles II and XXXII of the Zoning Code to clarify that short-term rentals are prohibited within the village.
Vikse said the amendment would add definitions to the code to clarify what constitutes a short-term rental, and it would prohibit short-term rentals in several types of housing.
She said the amendment would also include a section requiring renters to acknowledge that they cannot do short-term rentals.
Village Mayor Peter Cavallaro said rentals for more than 30 days are allowed, but they still require rental permits.
He said there’s been a growth of temporary housing situations everywhere, saying they are more commonly seen in vacation destinations. He said that if short-term rentals were to be allowed within the village, they could disrupt the quality of life and the community.
“Most residents don’t want their neighbors renting a room,” Cavallaro said. “We want to make sure our code is enforceable.”
The record for the second hearing was left open until the village’s next public meeting in January.
Cavallaro concluded the meeting by wishing everyone a happy holiday since the board will publicly convene next in 2026.
