Relates to a tax exemption for enrolled members of a volunteer ocean rescue squad in certain municipalities

Property tax relief for volunteer ocean rescuers

The law allows a property tax exemption for enrolled volunteer ocean rescue members who own homes alone or with their spouses. It covers up to 10% of the home's assessed value, not a flat dollar amount. The relevant local government must adopt the exemption after a public hearing. Members must live in a town with a 2020 census population between 28,370 and 28,400. They must also live in the city, town or village their squad serves. The squad needs formal local recognition as an emergency rescue and first aid squad. The home must be the member's main residence; any nonresidential portion remains taxable. The exemption can cover city, village, town, part-town, special district, school district and county taxes, but not special assessments. Members need service certification and must meet a locally set service minimum of two to five years. Certified members with more than 20 years of active service get a 10% lifetime exemption where locally adopted. Their main home must remain in the qualifying town. Local governments can separately allow surviving spouses who have not remarried to keep or reclaim the exemption. For line-of-duty deaths, the member must have served at least five years and received the exemption before death. For other deaths, the member must have served at least 20 years. In those cases, both spouses must have received the exemption for the property before the member's death. Surviving spouses need certification under locally set procedures. Applicants must file a state-prescribed form with the assessor or designated agency by the taxable status date. The law protects existing benefits received under this property-tax article on its effective date from being reduced by this act. It also repeals section 1 of the related 2024 East Hampton ocean rescue exemption law. This act takes effect on the same date and in the same manner as that 2024 law.