Legislator Terry Niebel and County Attorney Pat Slagle present to the Administrative Services Committee (April 17, 2023)
The Chautauqua County Legislature is considering a property tax exemption for volunteer fire fighters and ambulance workers.
Legislator Terry Niebel and County Attorney Pat Slagle presented the proposal to the Administrative Services Committee to adopt a local law to give enrolled members of an incorporated volunteer fire company, fire department or incorporated voluntary ambulance service a 10% exemption on their assessed value of their property taxes.
Niebel said he is recommending legislators adopt the 10% exemption, “Now, the actual law, which was enacted on December 9, 2022, provided for an exemption of five to ten percent. Okay? But, I’ve talked to fire chiefs, I’ve talked to fire advisory board, emergency services council, our own emergency services department, past chiefs association.. everybody that I talked to seem to think that 10% would be better than the 5%.”
Niebel pointed out that the village of Mayville recently adopted a similar property tax exemption in the amount of 10%.
The local law requires that members have at least two years of service before they can claim the exemption. It also provides a lifetime exemption for any active volunteer who has 20 years of active service.
Neibel said there are an estimated 1,600 volunteers in Chautauqua County, which based on a sample comes out to be $85 per volunteer, “Not all 1,600 people will be entitled to this because this is on your residence and some people rent, some people have their residences in their spouse’s name. So, again, in talking to some of the folks in the fire service, we figure probably the effective number is 1,200. So, 1,200 times $85 is roughly $102,000.”
Niebel added he hopes the exemption will help attract and retain volunteer firefighters.
The entire Administrative Services Committee requested to be added as sponsors to the local law. There will be a public hearing on the local law at the Legislature’s voting session on Wednesday, April 26.
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