While a councilwoman for the City of Glen Cove, I served as the liaison to the mayor for the Glen Cove Senior Center.
It was at that time that I really began to see firsthand the struggles and issues seniors face every day.
For nearly a decade, I have visited the Glen Cove Senior Center monthly and truly enjoy the relationships I have built with many of their members.
Maintaining close relationships with these constituents and having the ability to help to alleviate their struggles is a very important issue to me.
As Nassau County’s ranking member of the Health Committee, I am also very in tune to the costs of health care, housing and other high costs of living seniors deal with on a daily basis.
As you may recall, back in February, I told you about the Real Property Tax Law Senior Tax Abatement program that had been in place since 2002 for senior citizen homeowners and that had been allowed to lapse without notification to senior citizens.
Although the county executive’s administration was notified last July that the tax abatement legislation was expiring, the Legislature, Comptroller’s office and the 44,000 senior citizens who benefitted each year from this tax relief were not notified.
At that time my caucus submitted a memorandum to the New York State Assembly Speaker Earlene Hooper.
State Assemblyman Charles Lavine was also very proactive in correcting this problem at the state Assembly.
I also sent the memorandum of support to the State Assembly and notified you that our efforts worked.
I am happy to report that the tax abatement for seniors is now back in place and seniors will now receive a tax credit for 2017 on both halves of their tax bills in 2018.
While the tax refund is nominal, it makes a difference each year for seniors on fixed incomes to help them stay in their homes.
It is reported that some senior citizens in Nassau have saved an average of 5.5 percent due to this County tax abatement.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or comments on this or any other topic at 516-571-6211 or dderiggiwhitton@nassaucountyny.gov.
