Exemption News!!
The City of Olean Common Council voted September 9, 2008, to grant the Alternative (Wartime) Veterans Exemption and the Cold War Veterans Exemption on city property taxes. If you currently receive or have applied for either of these exemptions on the County tax, you do not need to do anything further. If you have never applied for either of these exemptions before you must do so before March 1, 2009 to be eligible to receive the exemption on the July 1, 2009 assessment roll. The first tax to be impacted by this change will occur in May 2010.
If you are currently receiving an Eligible Funds exemption on the City or County tax, you will not be able to receive an additional Veterans Exemption, however you may switch to the Alternative or Cold War Veterans Exemption if you qualify and feel the benefit would be greater. I must caution that once a switch is made to the Alternative or Cold War exemption, you may not switch back to the Eligible Funds Exemption. That being said, it would be wise to wait until the final value of your property after the revaluation is known before making a decision. New York State law does not allow the granting of any new Eligible Funds exemptions once a municipality adopts a law allowing the Alternative exemption.
In addition, the Council also passed a law allowing the Change In Level of existing Eligible Funds Exemptions for City tax purposes. If you currently receive an Eligible Funds Veterans exemption on city taxes, the amount will be multiplied by the certified change in level of assessment when the revaluation is completed. This will allow the amount of the exemption to increase proportionately to the extent that our overall assessment level increases. (anticipated 7.95% to 100% or approximately 12 ½ times). Nothing will be required from the property owner, as records will be updated programmatically. If you have an Eligible Funds exemption on the County tax as well, however, these amounts will not be increased as the County does not allow Change in Level. Switching to the Alternative or Cold War Veterans exemption for County tax purposes if you are eligible may be a preferred option in this case.
Nancy Champlin
City of Olean Assessor