Ball Addresses Somers Seniors On Property Tax Relief

SOMERS, N.Y. – State Sen. Greg Ball (R-Patterson) came to Somers on Wednesday to explain his plan for property tax relief for senior citizens.

Ball said very few people thought the 2 percent cap on property tax levies would go through, but it did.

“Now I am continuing my fight to freeze school taxes for seniors, and I’m calling on the Legislature to pass my bill, S5052A, which will freeze property taxes for seniors,” Ball said.

He continued to discuss other tax reforms he thought essential. He said skyrocketing property taxes are driving some small-business owners out of the state, and he described a “circuit breaker” that would tie a homeowner’s property taxes to that person’s ability to pay. He also addressed relief from unfunded state mandates and adjustments to the property tax levy cap that would make it difficult to override.

However, Ball’s audience, consisting almost entirely of senior citizens, was most interested in learning about tax issues for the elderly.

“Often our seniors live on fixed incomes and a strict budget,” Ball said. “Seniors who can’t afford to keep up with the yearly increase in their school tax bills are forced to sell their homes. And more often than not, a young family with kids will move in. As cute as those kids can be, they each come with a $20,000 price tag on their heads.”

This cycle perpetuates increased spending on education and other services, Ball said. He described seniors as “the backbone of our community,” the ones who “organize our community events, parades and pancake breakfasts.”

His proposed tax changes would mean that seniors “will be able to stay in their homes because they know that the tax bill they receive when they’re 65 will be the same bill they’ll pay when they’re 75, and God willing, the same bill they pay when they’re 105.”

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