Genesee County Real Property Tax Services

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.

Genesee County is preparing statements totaling nearly $100,000 for assessment services provided to towns and the City of Batavia in 2019.

The legislature’s Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing Kevin Andrews, director of real property tax services, to bill the municipalities for assessment rolls, tax rolls, tax bills, supplies, and assessment updates that were provided by the county in the previous fiscal year.

These “charge-backs” amount to $87,477 in services rendered and another $10,950 in licensing fees charged by New York State for specialized software “that assessors use to keep track of their assessment inventory and that we use to then produce assessment rolls, tax bills and tax rolls,” Andrews said.

Bills will be mailed to the towns and city in January, with the expense applied to their 2021 budgets, Andrews added.

The charge-backs and fees range from $3,336.83 for 1,107 parcels in the Town of Bethany to $17,715.23 for 5,531 parcels in the City of Batavia. The total number of parcels assessed was 29,159.

In another development, the committee authorized the appointment of Assistant County Manager Tammi Ferringer as the administration officer and to act as the Genesee County STOP DWI coordinator for the Genesee County STOP DWI Advisory Board.

The committee approved the following referrals from Monday’s Public Service Committee meeting:

• A consultant agreement with CPL Team of Rochester in an amount not to exceed $80,000 to develop Well C of the City of Batavia’s well fields on Cedar Street to increase the water supply during times of high creek water turbidity or during times of low groundwater that negatively impact Well A or Well B.

County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens said Well C could produce up to a million gallons of water per day – “almost as productive as Well A and B.” He said the emergency water situation in July prompted a meeting with city officials to expedite action to make Well C a viable option.

Hens estimated the total cost for construction, including cleaning, screening and re-casing the well, at $200,000 to $300,000.

• A change-order contract for $8,682.50 with Suburban Electric in Albion to install Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol communication controls and fuel pressure sensors for backup generators at pump stations in Churchville and Mumford.

The pump stations are being constructed at those locations as part of Phase 2 of the Countywide Water Supply Program.

Hens said the change order was necessary so that the Monroe County Water Authority can monitor the generators remotely during emergencies.  The change order increases the total cost of the contract to $767,682.50.

• The appointment of Candace Hensel of Byron to the Genesee County Planning Board for a three-year term effective through May 31, 2023. Hensel owns the Byron Hotel and Trailhouse.