The Herricks Board of Education unanimously voted to approve partial property tax exemptions for military veterans in the school district at a special meeting last Wednesday night.
Herricks school board President Jim Gounaris said the board convened the special meeting during the Herricks PTA Scholarship dinner at the Inn at New Hyde Park to approve the tax exemptions before the March 14 deadline the state had set for the exemptions to take effect this year.
“We salute and offer our gratitude for their service to our country and with a deep sense of pride voted in favor of the tax accommodation,” Gounaris said.
The school board enacted the exemptions according to guidelines suggested by the state law to offer a 15 percent exemption for all military veterans with an additional 10 percent for those who served in combat. The state also recommends an additional 50 percent exemption for veterans disabled as a result of their military service.
A consensus of board members previously favored granting the exemptions recently enabled under state law, but delayed acting at its March 6 meeting because of what board members termed an error in the law. Gounaris said a flaw in the law omitted a clause to enable school districts to opt out of offering the veterans exemptions at some future point after they granted the tax breaks.
He said the Herricks trustees acted “after serious and extended consultations” with state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) and state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) that reassured them the law would be amended to enable school districts to opt out as municipalities have the option to do under the law.
Herricks trustees also expressed concerns about the lack of reliable information from the county assessor’s office on the eligible veterans and their survivors in the Herricks School District, who would be eligible for the exemptions.
Based on information from the county Tax Assessor’s Office, Herricks Assistant Superintendent for Business Helen Costigan said at the Feb. 27 board meeting that 632 veterans or their survivors would be eligible for $154,134 in property tax exemptions if the board followed the state guidelines in granting the exemptions. But at the March 6 meeting, Costigan said assessors’ office had since informed her the numbers they provided might be incorrect.
Gounaris said the board trustees decided that the absence of accurate numbers about those who are eligible was not a serious concern.
“We do not think the county’s shortcoming should stop the school district from extending the tax exemptions accordingly,” Gounaris said.
Herricks Trustee Brian Hassan had expressed a reservation at the March 6 about approving the tax exemptions because of the inability to opt out of the uncertain cost. But he said he favored the exemption in principle.
“I wanted to do something for the veterans,” Hassan said. “I don’t think there‘s going to be that much of a cost variation because it’s going to be a small amount.”
Based on the estimate she had received from the assessor’s office, Costigan said she estimated the tax exemptions would cost other district taxpayers an additional average $25 on their annual property taxes.
