Board to consider cutting volunteer firefighter/EMS school tax-exemption to two years

At the Aug. 27 meeting administrators told the Three Village Central School District board they plan to present a local change that would reduce the minimum volunteer service requirement for a school tax exemption from five years to two, consistent with an allowance in New York State law.

Mr. Carlson said the exemption — available to volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers after completing a required number of years of service — has been part of the district’s practice for about two decades. He said the state now allows taxing authorities to reduce the local minimum from five years to two; the board’s audit committee recommended adopting the shorter service threshold.

Mr. Carlson said 106 district homeowners currently receive the exemption and that lowering the minimum is likely to affect very few additional taxpayers because many volunteers complete five years of service before becoming homeowners. “I can’t say exactly how much it will cost everyone else,” he said, noting that exemptions shift tax burdens among taxpayers. He said if the board directs staff to move forward, the administration would schedule an official hearing — likely at the Sept. 17 meeting — and the board could vote in October. If approved and adopted by February, the change would be in place for the 2026–27 school year.

No vote occurred Aug. 27; the board asked administration to place the change on the Sept. 17 agenda for a public hearing, followed by a potential October vote.