Upgrading the Senior Tax Exemption: This was my last legislative agenda item that never managed to get done before I was out of office at the end of 2007. It would be awesome if someone would pick up the baton and carry it. Gloversville is a city with both an aging population, and a population that comprises a lot of hard working elderly folks barely holding on to property they worked a lifetime to maintain. In the 1980s, and last amended in 1995, a Senior Tax Exemption was enacted, and found in city code section 261-1. Unfortunately, the figures shown on the schedule provided at the link have not been adjusted for inflation at least since the last amendment in 1995, but possibly even further back in time since the inception of the exemption back in the early 1980s. That means the value of this exemption has continued to erode markedly for almost 30 years - so much so that a Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator tells me that the value of the top end $21,300 figure provided in the schedule associated with city code 261-1 could today be valued as high as $42,834.07 - almost double the city codes current figure.* Wouldnt it be especially pleasant for our senior citizens, living on fixed incomes, and burdened with the constant increases in their cost of living, to be able to save a little cash to offset the rising tide of prices? ecode360/11497954 *(calculation assumption based on no cost of living adjustment having occurred since 1988 - a choice mid way between the assumed founding of the legislation in 1981 and its last known change - of whatever kind - in 1995)
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 20:05:45 +0000
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