County Legislator Susan Parker (D) presents amendment on Senior Citizen Real Property Tax Exemption (March 27, 2024)
The Chautauqua County Legislature has voted to lower the Senior Citizen Real Property Tax Exemption that they just passed in February.
Legislators learned during last week’s Audit & Control Committee that the state only allows exemptions for senior citizens to be set at a maximum of $50,000. The resolution passed by the Legislature last month had raised the exemption from $22,000 to $58,400.
Fredonia Democratic Legislator Susan Parker motioned to amend the proposed amendment from a $30,000 exemption to a $37,650 exemption following discussions she had with County Office For the Aging Director Dr. Mary Ann Spanos, “The Office for the Aging recommends.. has in practice with services rendered from them seniors 65 and above, well actually, lower than that, that 250% of that poverty, individual poverty, level ($15,000) be used as a number this partial property tax exemption.”
Republican Legislator Marty Proctor said while he supports raising the exemption amount, he thought it should stay at the proposed $30,000, “And what I’d suggest is that we pass the $30,000 and then form some sort of committee to look at instituting a sliding scale above and beyond $30,000 to some other level where it wouldn’t be 50% (exemption). It would be 25%, 5%, or something like that.”
Legislator Terry Niebel expressed concern over raising the exemption higher than $30,000, saying it would shift the tax burden to low-income earners who are 20 to 30 years old, “It represents an age group that, in the past, has been biggest exodus of population from Chautauqua County. I’m not sure if it still is but I think it is. That age group is facing rising gas prices, rising food prices, utility prices, and they probably already have high mortgage payments and car payments. At least senior citizens have their homes and cars paid for. At least, a lot of them do.”
Parker’s amendment failed 3 to 12 with only Democratic Legislators Fred Larson, Tom Nelson, and Parker voting yes. The original amendment proposed to set the new exemption at $30,000 past 12 to 3.
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