If you’re a senior aged 65 or older living in Genesee County, you have until Friday to file for a real property tax exemption that the Genesee County Legislature just voted to adjust as a means to help out qualifying property owners.
The Legislature unanimously approved Section 467 of the Real Property Tax Law during Wednesday’s meeting to give Genesee County the option of granting a reduction in the amount of taxes paid by senior citizens based on a sliding scale of income amounts.
Deputy Treasurer Kevin Andrews brought the issue to the attention of legislators a few weeks ago, suggesting that they may want to consider shifting the income amounts to better reflect this county’s senior incomes and cost of living increases and correlate with adjacent county numbers.
“So the exemption is intended to benefit individuals who are 65 years or older that are on a limited income. So for those individuals, it's a means to help them stay in their homes and afford the taxes to remain in their homes,” Andrews said, giving a tangible example of how this new law can help. “So it depends on their income threshold. At the maximum end of the scale, if their income qualifies, they'll get a 50 percent exemption on their taxes. So let's say we had somebody who had an assessment at about $100,000, and they're getting a 50 percent exemption … that would equate out to roughly $400 of savings for county tax purposes.”
That senior would own a home valued at $100,000, and with the sliding scale for an income of more than $23,800 but less than $24,800, that person would receive a 50 percent break on taxes for the $400 in savings.
The higher the income, the lower the discount, up to $32,200 at five percent. The full table is below. The caveat is that folks have until Friday to file at their assessor’s office. Andrews said that there will be an application available on the county’s website on Thursday, or one would be available at each municipality’s assessment office.
“It’s going to be a very tight turnaround, which is why we have been as proactive as possible. Kevin, your office has sent out press releases and worked very closely with the assessors in the community so that they would know this was coming out. We did have a comment from one assessor who indicated that she was going to be contacting the folks in her community that were now eligible for this revised and higher limited tax exemption,” Legislative Chairwoman Shelley Stein said. “We’re grateful for her; we're grateful for the work that you've put together to make sure that we get this information out as fast and as credibly as possible.”
There was a public hearing about the proposed change during the meeting, and no one showed up to speak.
In its resolution, the Legislature voted to adopt this measure “to keep pace with increases in social security income and to assist senior citizens with limited incomes to be able to afford to stay in their homes.”
The scale tax exemption is as follows:
- Less than $23,800 - 50%
- Equal or more than $23,800 but less than $24,800 - 45%
- $24,800 but less than $25,800 - 40%
- $25,800 but less than $26,800 - 35%
- $26,800 but less than $27,700 - 30%
- $27,700 but less than $28,600 - 25%
- $28,600 but less than $29,500 - 20%
- $29,500 but less than $30,400 - 15%
- $30,400 but less than $31,300 - 10%
- $31,300 but less than $32,200 - 5%
This action is to take effect March 1, 2024.
