Mineola Board of Education President Artie Barnett told veterans of American Legion Post 144 in Williston Park last Thursday night that the Mineola school board would consider giving veterans tax exemptions when the state Legislature amends the law to allow school boards to opt out of the exemptions in the future.
“If it becomes a burden 10 years down the road, we can’t fix that,” Barnett said of the legislation that current governs exemptions given by school boards to veterans. “We support the veterans. We’re waiting on the state Senate and Assembly to fix the language in the law.”
Barnett told the American Legion members, who were assembled for their regular monthly meeting at the Legion post on Willis Avenue, that he had come to quash rumors that the school board had voted against granting the partial property tax exemptions last year.
“I know some of you have heard we voted it down. That is false,” Barnett told the veterans
Barnett said state legislators have acknowledged an error in the law state legislators that omits the option for school boards to reconsider the tax exemptions.
One veteran said the Herricks school board had voted to grant a 15 percent tax exemptions to military veterans earlier this year and he and other veterans were expecting Mineola to follow suit at the time.
Barnett said the Herricks board took a “leap of faith” that the state Legislature would follow through on amending the law when it voted in favor of the exemptions. He said both state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) and state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) has issued assurances that the Legislature would act in its last session, but it did not do so.
“We’re not rushing this. I support the veterans. But I don’t want to see a fixed income senior get hammered by it,” Barnett said.
He said Mineola Superintendent of Business Jack Waters had researched the issue at the school board’s request last year and estimated that passage of the exemption – 15 percent for all veterans and an additional 10 percent for those who served in combat – would cost other Mineola taxpayers an average of approximately $30 to $40 each.
But, Barnett said, he couldn’t foresee what the impact would be in 10 or 15 years.
Asked to respond to Barnett’s remarks, Martins said the Legislature’s failure to correct the law in its last session was not a good reason for school boards to not vote for the exemption
“The Legislature already made it clear it plans on addressing the clerical error in the bill. And I certainly hope that’s not used as a basis for consideration of giving relief to the men and women who served their country,” Martins said.
Some of the veterans said they did think the school board had disapproved the exemptions, but they had no questions for Barnett when he finished explaining the position he and the board had taken.
He said if the board voted by Jan. 2 to enact the exemptions, they would take effect until 2015 – the same time they would take effect for veterans in the Herricks school district since Herricks missed the deadline for granting the exemptions as a result of the county assessor’s office incorrectly telling school boards they had until March 15 to adopt the exemptions last year, when the state required approval by Jan. 2 for the exemptions to take effect in 2014.
“People just jumped the gun. Once everybody heard that Herricks passed it, they just assumed that Mineola would pass it,” William Vesely, sergeant-at-arms and past commander of the Williston Park post said after the meeting. “It sounds very good if you’re eligible to receive, but if you look down the road, it could be very tough on the kids and the grand kids.”
