Village to hold another public hearing on volunteer exemption

Village Board to decide how often people must file Warwick — The Village of Warwick instituted a partial tax exemption in June for volunteer fire and ambulance workers, following in the footsteps of both the county and the town. Now the village board will hold another public hearing clarifying the filing procedures. All village applications for the exemption must come through the village clerk’s office. That is not how the original law was written. In order to change it, a public hearing will be held at the Oct. 2 meeting. To qualify for the exemption, a resident must be a certified member of the volunteer group for a minimum of five years, own the property, and have it be his or her primary residence. Those with 20 years of services receive a lifetime exemption, meaning if they retire from the fire department or the ambulance corps, they will continue to get the exemption. However, they must still apply for it. Which brought up another topic — should those with 20 plus years of service be spared the filing procedure? Trustee Eileen Patterson brought it to the board after being asked by a 20-year plus veteran of the department. Patterson said just to keep uniformity with the town, the village should discuss eliminating the filing for veterans of the departments with more than 20 years of service. Village attorney Michael Meth said he does not believe it is allowed by the state anyway. And so the village will require everyone to apply each year, regardless of their years of service. “I don’t think applying every year is a hardship,” said Trustee George McManus. “Senior citizens apply every year for their exemption.” And that is how it will stay. Applications may go through the fire chief, who will certify that the member is eligible, but must come to the village clerk by Dec. 31. All told, the exemptions from the village, town and county would amount to about $40.