Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell opposes a New York state budget change that she says punishes homeowners who have fallen behind on their property taxes by taking away their Basic STAR tax exemption.
The program, which started in the 1990s, is an upfront exemption on school taxes that saves the average principal homeowner in New York State about $800 year. Now, those who are more than a year late on their property taxes will no longer qualify for the exemption.
The Enhanced STAR program, which gives senior citizens a larger property tax break, is not affected by the change. Odell called the change the kind of budget shenanigans that may make state finances look better, but amount to nothing more than hitting people when they are down.
She says Governor Cuomo has long sought to eliminate the upfront reduction in the school tax bill that STAR offers and replace it with a STAR credit check that is sent to homeowners in the fall. When the state pays STAR by a rebate check, it is considered a revenue reduction rather than state spending, thus allowing the state to keep spending under the 2% cap.
