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RateVillage trustees ease home improvement burden
Board adopts scaled capital improvement assessment exemption
By Colin DeVries
CATSKILL — The Catskill Village Board of Trustees has made it easier for residents to improve their homes without the sudden shock of property tax increases.
A new local law will allow a 10-year sliding scale property tax exemption on any capital improvements that may increase assessment value of residential properties.
For any home improvements, reconstruction or alterations that increase the market value of a home from $5,000 to $80,000, property taxes will not increase for the first year. Each year the exemption decreases by 12.5 percent, meaning 87.5 percent of the improvement’s value will be exempt the second year.
“We want to help stimulate our local economy and keep our local guys working, specifically carpenters, plumbers,” said Village President Vincent Seeley.
More than three weeks ago, Seeley pitched an economic stimulus package of his own — “Get Catskill Working” — to the Catskill Town Board to encourage use of local products and services by instituting a moratorium on property reassessments for five years if 90 percent of the project uses local materials or services.
The town, which shares an assessor with the village, already has the sliding scale capital improvement exemption but there have been no applications filed since its inception in 2007, according to Sole Assessor Nancy McCoy.
“It’s not exactly what I was envisioning (for the village),” said Seeley, “but it is something that we as a village board can implement quickly.”
A question did arise during the meeting if this exemption covered energy efficiency improvements, including wind, solar or farm waste energy systems, while in fact an exemption for those improvements already exists via the state Board of Real Property Services.
The state exemption applies only projects constructed before Jan. 1, 1988, or constructed after Jan. 1, 1991 and before Jan. 1, 2011.
Applications for the alternative energy exemption are available at the assessor’s office in the Catskill Town Hall, 439 Main Street. For an application to qualify for the residential capital improvements property tax exemption go to the Catskill Village Hall, 422 Main Street.
To reach reporter Colin DeVries, please call (518) 943-2100, ext. 3325, or e-mail cdevries@thedailymail.net.
By Colin DeVries
CATSKILL — The Catskill Village Board of Trustees has made it easier for residents to improve their homes without the sudden shock of property tax increases.
A new local law will allow a 10-year sliding scale property tax exemption on any capital improvements that may increase assessment value of residential properties.
For any home improvements, reconstruction or alterations that increase the market value of a home from $5,000 to $80,000, property taxes will not increase for the first year. Each year the exemption decreases by 12.5 percent, meaning 87.5 percent of the improvement’s value will be exempt the second year.
“We want to help stimulate our local economy and keep our local guys working, specifically carpenters, plumbers,” said Village President Vincent Seeley.
More than three weeks ago, Seeley pitched an economic stimulus package of his own — “Get Catskill Working” — to the Catskill Town Board to encourage use of local products and services by instituting a moratorium on property reassessments for five years if 90 percent of the project uses local materials or services.
The town, which shares an assessor with the village, already has the sliding scale capital improvement exemption but there have been no applications filed since its inception in 2007, according to Sole Assessor Nancy McCoy.
“It’s not exactly what I was envisioning (for the village),” said Seeley, “but it is something that we as a village board can implement quickly.”
A question did arise during the meeting if this exemption covered energy efficiency improvements, including wind, solar or farm waste energy systems, while in fact an exemption for those improvements already exists via the state Board of Real Property Services.
The state exemption applies only projects constructed before Jan. 1, 1988, or constructed after Jan. 1, 1991 and before Jan. 1, 2011.
Applications for the alternative energy exemption are available at the assessor’s office in the Catskill Town Hall, 439 Main Street. For an application to qualify for the residential capital improvements property tax exemption go to the Catskill Village Hall, 422 Main Street.
To reach reporter Colin DeVries, please call (518) 943-2100, ext. 3325, or e-mail cdevries@thedailymail.net.
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| Environment meets economy |
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green wrote on Jul 16, 2009 5:12 PM:
Im just saying ppl have been talking this in Hunter/Tannersville board meetings since like last October, right?? Lets move it here! /like Coxsackie- Who is first to wake up, smell the crisis & pay it forward here in 'Green'e County /NY "