Bedford expands tax breaks for veterans, first responders

BEDFORD, N.Y. - Bedford said thanks last week for the outsized sacrifices some of its residents have made during military or civilian service.

The town expressed its gratitude through expanded reductions in assessments on their homes. Seriously disabled veterans, service members on active duty in a combat area and surviving spouses of police officers, volunteer firefighters and ambulance crew members killed in the line of duty are eligible for the benefits.

“I think it's hard to be against . . . any one of these four proposals,” Assessor Harry Girdlestone said in asking the Town Board to vote the tax breaks, which improve on ones already in place.

In most cases, he told the board’s Oct. 20 meeting, the impact on other residents’ property taxes would range from none to insignificant. The county legislature has already adopted the reductions, made possible by revisions in the state’s Real Property Tax Law.

Improving the benefits, Supervisor Ellen Calves said, “is a small measure the town can take to recognize the profound sacrifices of any individuals who may qualify.”

Girdlestone presented the breaks as four separate local laws, each requiring a public hearing and board vote. “We'll do it one by one,” he said.

The first law amends the 2022 benefit given to the surviving spouse of a volunteer firefighter or ambulance crew member killed in the line of duty. It increases the reduction in assessed value on the principal residence from 10 to 50 percent.

In a remark heard more than once in Girdlestone’s presentation, he observed, “Hopefully, we will never use this.”

Calves, responding to a question from Bob Hickey of Katonah, said, “Westchester County has already adopted this exemption.” That means the reduced assessment will be reflected in a surviving spouse’s county property-tax bill and, once adopted by the Town Board, in the town’s bill as well. “It would have to be adopted by the school district to apply to your school tax,” Calves said.

Continuing, Girdlestone said the second proposed local law provides a partial exemption of 25 percent value for military personnel on active duty in a combat zone during the taxable year. “Unfortunately, there's a cap on this exemption,” the assessor pointed out. “It can't exceed $20,000 of full value. . . . When it caps out using our current equalization rate, it's only a little under $100 in tax savings.”

The third law exempts 100 percent of assessed value for veterans deemed permanently and totally disabled because of their military service.

“We have 30 veterans who are disabled in our town. Eight [of them]  are 100 percent,” Girdlestone said. Granting the 100 percent exemption to those eight would hike Bedford’s tax rate by 0.027 cents, he said, which would add 47 cents to the tax bill on a typical $70,000 home.

Even if all 30 veterans’ disabilities qualified for the 100 percent assessment reduction, Girdlestone noted, the average house assessed at $70,000, would see county and town taxes go up $16.72.

“I was concerned about the [100 percent reduction’s] impact, but it doesn't appear that there really is any significant tax impact,” the assessor said.

The final tax-break change provides a 50 percent cut in assessed value for the surviving spouse of any police officer in the state killed in the line of duty. The tax impact of the exemption “could be zero or insignificant and hopefully it's never, ever used,” Girdlestone said.

The Town Board unanimously approved each proposed exemption as it was presented.

$1.6 MILLION FOR PATHWAY IMPROVEMENTS

Bedford has been awarded $1.6 million to improve Route 117’s pedestrian/bicyclist pathway and extend it another 1,400 feet to Harris Road. 

The federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant is meant to encourage shoppers, commuters and others to bypass their cars and choose instead to walk or bike to wherever they’re going.

Calves said the town will seek additional grant funding to connect the pathway with Bedford Road’s existing sidewalk, linking Katonah and Bedford Hills.

APARTMENT PROJECT ADVANCES

Developers seeking final site-plan approval for a 10-apartment building at 61-83 Adams Street can return to the Planning Board next week with a key hurdle already cleared.

The Town Board granted permission for the developers, 190 Realty Corp. (Rye Brook), to make off-site improvements in the town’s right-of-way. They include a sidewalk and curbing, which would extend the existing pedestrian pavement, which starts at the Bedford Hills hamlet center, and a retaining wall on the inside of the sidewalk.