Just four people spoke during last night’s public hearing hosted by the Jamestown School Board regarding the potential Alternative Veterans’ Exemption Tuesday Night at Washington Middle School.
The exemptions, which were recently approved by lawmakers in Albany, allow school districts and other municipalities across the state to grant tax exemptions to veterans. Currently, the City of Jamestown does not offer the exemption and Chautauqua County offers the exemption at the lowest cap.
Among those who spoke in favor of the exemption was Chautauqua County legislator and veteran David Wilfong.
“We have many service members coming home who have terrible injuries to their bodies as well as traumatic brain injuries. Some of these veterans are Jamestown Public School Alumni,” Wilfong explained. “I believe it is the responsibility of each and every American to make sure these service members are taking care of after the sacrifices they made for our country.”
Jamestown School Board president Joe DiMaio said he would have to recuse himself from the vote because he is a veteran and property owner in the city. Howver, that didn’t stop him from offering his thoughts on the exemption deal, saying it doesn’t go far enough to help every veteran throughout New York state, adding that the state should have instead focused on income tax exemptions, not property tax exemptions.
A fair thing would have been an income tax credit because every single person – whether they rent, whether they’re in a nursing home, no matter where they are – would have gotten something. So to me, if the politicians in Albany truly cared about veterans, they would have done something like that,” DiMaio said. “To me, it’s an unfunded mandate, in a sense, because if you don’t do it, how are you going to look? And when you do do it, they’re not giving you anything to help you out.”
Two other members of the public spoke and they were also in favor of the exemptions. The school board will likely act on the exemptions later this month.
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