Bedford approves property-tax break for low-income seniors

BEDFORD, N.Y. – Some elderly, low-income residents can now qualify for a bigger break on their property taxes this year but could lose their exemption altogether next year.

The Town Board voted on Tuesday (April 7) to increase immediately the topmost tax exemption for homeowners 65 and older. It jumps from 50 percent to 65 percent of assessed value. Separately, the board decided that in 2027 taxable IRA distributions will be included in calculating a homeowner’s income.

Since pensions and annuities are already counted in determining a senior’s income, Supervisor Ellen Calves said, adding the IRA withdrawals “levels the playing field for everybody.”

That change in determining federal adjusted gross income will cost 14 seniors their exemptions completely and reduce the savings for another eight, Assessor Harold Girdlestone told the board.

Girdlestone had recommended the increased exemption, made possible by changes in state law. Residents only have until May 1 to submit applications for the bigger exemptions, which are calculated on a sliding scale of income/assessment percentages.

The maximum exemption had been a 50 percent reduction in assessed value for property owners with annual income below $50,000. But changes last year in the state’s Real Property Tax Law now allow towns, counties, school districts and other jurisdictions to increase the exemption, up to 65 percent of assessed value, for the handful of seniors making less than $47,000 a year.

“I think we’re the only ones adopting [the increased exemption] this year,” Girdlestone said, so school and county tax bills will remain unchanged.

By Girdlestone’s count, 81 Bedford seniors now receive exemptions, with 55 getting the maximum 50 percent break granted for incomes of less than $47,000. Under the adopted change, 50 of the 55 would qualify for the 65 percent exemption; two, with income of less than $48,000, would receive a 60 percent break; and three, at less than $50,000 income, a 50 percent reduction.

If all 55 seniors received their exemptions, he said, it would add about 3 cents to Bedford’s property-tax rate. For a property with an assessed value of $70,000 (market value of $915,000), he said, town taxes would rise by about $2.20.

Other seniors also qualify for assessed-value reductions, which decline on a sliding scale. With an annual income of as much as $57,500 but less than $58,400, for example, a homeowner would receive a 5 percent exemption on assessed value. Below $57,500, the exemption is 10 percent and under $55,700, it is 20 percent.

Income calculations for exemption eligibility now include pensions and annuities. But, starting next year, taxable IRA withdrawals will be part of the determination. Council member Midge Iorio applauded the year’s delay, saying it allows seniors to adjust to the change. “It makes sense to do it next year,” she said.