001e e good evening everyone call me please stand for pledge FL the United States of America to the repic stands one nation under God indivisible Li [Music] so at this point in the meeting uh I'm going to turn uh the meeting over to Mr Harrison to give us a presentation about uh real property tax law changes okay thank you very much hello good evening tonight we're holding a public hearing to discuss proposed changes that the board event is contemplating on tonight's agenda to the uh exemptions that are currently in place for persons age 65 and over with limited income as well as persons with disabil with limited income so as part of tonight's agenda we'll review the exemptions that are currently in place we'll talk about the impact of property tax exemptions as well as
002the proposed changes that the boards contemplating so real property tax law 467 is for individuals age 65 and older with limited income there a proper tax exemption that's available for those that are currently making $29,000 or less to receive a 50% reduction in the assessment value of their property and then there's a sliding scale from 29,000 up to 37,4 that provides lesser uh reductions in assessed value for property tax purposes currently there are 220 Parcels within the East is School District boundaries with an assess valuation total $3.3 million that are currently receiving this exemption there's a similar exemption that's require real property tax law for those income uh those individuals with disabilities and low income the same parameters are currently in place at the school district level of $229,000 for 50% reduction in property tax
003assessments and again the same sliding scale applies there are currently nine Parcels within the boundaries of East I School District receiving a reduction totals $48,530 so the next two slides are going be very similar similar these are the uh exemptions that are available uh based upon income amounts as you can see if you have up to an including 29,000 of household income there's a availability of a 50% reduction in assess valuation to be exempt for school dists taxes that sliding scale goes up to $337,400 in income but as you can see as the income goes higher the reduction is is lessened to a minimum 5 5% at 37,400 so the next slide is just for for illustrative purposes it's the same information but it's for the uh disabled persons with limited income so anytime there's
004a real property tax exemption that's given in the community uh what it does it does it reduces the property taxes due from those qualifying individuals but it then shifts that amount to the remaining taxpayers that don't qualify for that same exemption so there's a shift in tax burden from those getting the exemptions to those who don't qualify however the school district receives a full amount of the tax levy that's agreed upon by the Board of Education during the budget process so the levy Remains the Same it's just those who are paying that that be the mixed changes in addition that uh each taxing jurisdiction was required to determine how income is defined for the calculation of these exemptions so there were very many different options available to it to the district uh however it was
005felt that the the option commonly known as option two was the one that was least disruptive to the tax base and was in line with the other school districts within the ielo township as well as the town of Isa itself for Town related taxes so the main change with option two was that federally taxable IRA distributions and annuity payments were now included as part of income that and that's been a change that caused some individuals to no longer be eligible or eligible to a lesser extent for this these particular exemptions so with that in mind and also because the town of iso raised their tax uh income level threshold to 50,000 the district has enough information now to determine the impact of what would happen if we raised our level to an amount higher than
006what is currently at $29,000 so if we if the board comes to a decision tonight by passing a res two resolution increasing the limit uh for both exemptions up to 40,000 it's anticipated that the impact will be less than $83 $83 on the other taxpayers so as I said earlier if the reduction is granted to a level of $40,000 from the current $29,000 level the shift to the other taxpayers in the community would be less than $83 on an annual basis so again the next two slides would be very similar one for the seniors and the other one for the uh disabled persons so the new threshold if approved would be $40,000 to receive a 50% reduction in assess property taxes that scale go up to as high as 48,4 as you can see that
007would only provide a 5% reduction in school taxes so at this point I try to answer any questions thank s you're welcome is this about school taxes or this is just property taxes but one in the same school property taxes and if you have a disability but you make more than what those numbers are up there you can still if you're a disabled individual with income Within These parameters you can apply for the it has to be within those parameters it's all those parameters even if you have a disability you can't take it well you can still apply the application is through the town but uh likely it'll be people in that situation would not be approved doesn't matter if it's a full disability or an occupational disability doesn't make a difference that the town
008will determine when you submit the application we're not defining the ability here I called the town about this increase my taxes went up $3,000 the town blamed it on the school the school blamed it on the state now there really is no need to take a vote theol has the ability to adopt since February of 2024 it was passed that the school itself can make the determination you don't have to sit up here and make a vote tell people to vote it was a law passed in 2024 if I could just maybe correct senior citizens local governments and school districts in New New York can up to Grant on the amount of property taxes paid by qualifying senior citizens okay you have the school district can set the maximum income limit at anywhere between 3,000
009and 50,000 well that's why we're here tonight okay so why did my taxes go up $3,000 that's $350 a month wa where do where do you think I'm going to get it well I'm not going to talk about individual circumstances but what I would it's not an individual circumstance I'm trying to be I'm trying to be polite on your behalf I went to the town people were crying senior citizens were crying because they can't pay that maybe I should get a job here and make $300,000 a year that's what we need this money for is that where my $2,000 is going I have no kids in school I'm a senior citizen well we understand your concern um again everybody understands concern completely understand well that's why we're here tonight we're trying to remediate that situation
010as best we can last year at this time there was not sufficient information to determine the impact to the remaining tax base of increasing from our current threshold up 29,000 to another number well my Social Security only goes up $75 a year so how am I going to subsidize that by you guys hit me with this tax increase i s town since they have nothing to do with with your decision okay and I just got a letter from the state it's your decision well that's why we're here tonight making one okay I can't I can't decision I I can't make it arbitrarily you guys vote on the decision if I could just finish I'd appreciate it I can't make a decision arbitrarily on behalf of the district to raise these thresholds that's why the board
011of education is here tonight to make that decision so you guys are here to make the decision correct you you had asked the question based on what that decision will allow all of the administration to give themselves raises that that's what it's going to do I think we're going a little far field here decision my taxes went up $3,000 who's getting that $3,000 cuz I know it's not me man we're we're kind of going out of the scope of the conversation here like I understand your concern sir I know you're going to disagree with me on this but I do understand what you're trying to express okay F we agree to disagree mam to your point about why we're having to vote what you read is correct procedurally the Board of Education needs to vote
012on this matter so Mr Harrison presented the information about what discussions were again back in 2024 v on it but the people don't how's that work you elect us as your representatives I didn't elect you okay you guys elected yourselves I know how it works okay is there any other questions that we can entertain this time no about the St program what's the limit for the enhanced what's it up to now I'm sorry I didn't bring that information tonight's meeting can get that to you if you want to call my office tomorrow I called the town and they said if you were if you were under $107,000 a year you you get the enhanced I thought it was like 96 or 98,000 well I don't want to quote any numbers incorrectly so if you'd like
013to see me after the meeting I'll give you my phone number to town hall tomorrow I meet you some down there because a woman told me over the phone worked in town hall she goes if you make under 107 she says you get the enhanced okay say so what do I got to do she goes you don't got to do nothing they'll check your tax return which is filed with the state and they'll see that and they'll just they'll I got my St check I only got 800 bucks and I should have gotten 2,000 well again I'd like to talk to you about that if youd like to give me a call tomorrow I'll give you my office number sure okay yes does this have anything to do with this and the enh no it
014doesn't so if I give a tax reduction for the senior old lady low income from the enhanced star two different things you guys pass this does that affect that is it connected no it's not connected it's a separate separate section of real property tax law so one is overall and one is en overall all your taxes enh enhan is a school the School portion well I'm only representing the school portion of it but the same tax break is available for the other taxing unpi the town also has a um similar that enh no that's no that's different separate and a partial what we're talking about tonight board president to advis members of the audience that they may address the board regarding agenda items after the superintendency only those names whose only those members whose names
015and addresses are listed on sign and Sheet available prior to the start a meeting will be recognized during new business the chair person will discussions of any item by the P to 3 minutes in order for the word to expeditiously conduct its business there is no superintendent report tonight so uh I'll move on to public comment public comments on consent agenda items so is there any other questions that anyone in the audience has okay hearing none do I have to apply to this yes how does how does this work the application process is through the town of Iceland so you would contact them to if they haven't sent you something already they probably should have but did have you had the exemption in the past this is not a new exemption we're just changing some
016of the criteria for it so this is connected to the star and the enhan no it's not there's a separate application that the town of Iceland has and if you call them they'll be able to get it to you I don't know I can't what do you call that application store no it's not it's not a store uh it's not a star exemption she has a store there though I'm sorry she has to start there I I would talk to the assessor's office at the town of I but I have to know what I'm asking for well I know in my I don't live within this Township but I know there's a separate application from the Star and basic yeah so excuse me excuse me I I think you would just ask for the veterans
017exemption forms oh okay I'm sorry think uh seniors senior exemption forms correct you tell me live in this town you don't even live in this town but yet you're going to vote on what we we all live in this town we all understand man' their Administration we the Board of Education here to the right will be voting on this we all live in the town the purpose of this exemption just so we're all on the same page is to allow more seniors to be approved for this exemption to get a tax reduction we're not taking away any benefits here we're trying to increase the number of individuals who qualify by raising the income thresholds so you're raising it from 29,000 to 40,000 correct that's the vote is for right so perhaps there are seniors who
018received IRA distributions in the past that Wen taxable last year they were part of income we're trying to mitigate that situation by raising the threshold from 29 to 40,000 and what would stop you from Raising that threshold last year at this time uh the ladies correct uh school districts had the opportunity to increase but we had no information since it was a new uh law through real property tax law so we could I couldn't present to the board let's go to 40,000 and that tell them how much it would impact everybody else so now that a year has gone by and the town has identified this larger pool of seniors we now have the information to say that it's not going to cost everybody else more than $83 a year so you just you just
019CL you just gave more information to make that decision yes correct and so there so there's no other reason why that vote wouldn't be yes tonight well I can't speak for the board but we'll find out in a few minutes why is 300 that's years I got two years so if [Music] you if you go to page three of the present ation it shows there that there are 220 seniors currently receiving a reduction of $3.3 million in assess value when you take that information and spread it over everybody else in the community it equates to $83 a year and again this is the school tax portion correct Mr Arison that's talking we're not talking about what the town assesses as far as property taxes for police the count we're not speaking about any we're just
020pertaining to the school tax line and my property didn't go anywhere was the school did okay any other questions okay I'm sorry that would that apply to once you make that vote that applies to the 2025 26 next year that is correct thank you you're welcome so at this time the board's going to adjourn I'll just to have some discussion so I'm going to uh close the meeting temporarily for the moment and we'll come back e e e so I'm going to resume the meeting now be it resolved that upon the recommendation superintendent schools of Board of Education hereby approves consent agenda items 4.1 through 4.3 in accordance with the action presented for each it take a motion um I apologize as a typle Let Me Rad the phrase um be it resolved upon the
021recommendations superent schools the Board of Education hereby approves consent agenda items 5.1 through 4 5.3 in accordance with the action presented for each I item can I get a motion motion any discussion yeah I just had a quick question so Mr Harrison last year the threshold was at 29 $29,000 where the taxpayers would reive a 50% reduction now increasing that to 40,000 so hopefully more senior citizens will be placed under that threshold and it's going up on a sliding scale per th000 up to the maximum of 50,000 up to Max West I'm sorry up to the maximum oh not the maximum 48,000 it's going up to 47,000 to 48,000 I'm sorry that's correct so essentially going from 29,000 to toer to be a dead stop after that now 40,000 with the sliding get up to
022484 that's correct so that'll put a lot more senior citizens under this threshold that's the Hope okay Mr harison it's also applicable for uh low-income persons on with disabilities as well that that question that Mr San asked applies to also to low income persons with disabilities as well that's correct thank you all in favor I I old business anyone have any old business any new business public comments n okay the next Board of Education regular business meeting and budget presentation of Lo will be held on Thursday March 13 2025 at 700 p.m. can I get a motion to adjourn motion second all in favor I thank you everybody have a good