Board of Education Approves Firefighter Tax Reduction

West Islip firefighters that are also homeowners in the hamlet will be receiving a break on the school portion of their property taxes, thanks to the West Islip School District.

On Thursday night, the unanimously approved a tax reduction for local volunteer firefighters who are now eligible to receive a 10 percent cut on the school portion of their property tax, which accounts for roughly 65 percent of the overall property taxes paid by West Islip homeowners. Until the vote, West Islip was the only school district in the Town of Islip that did not offer the discount to local volunteer fire fighters.

“It’s getting harder and harder to live in this community, and a little tax break like this really helps [firefighters] out," said Joseph Badala, chief of the West Islip Fire Department.

Under the Real Property Tax Law Section 466-c, a partial percent tax exemption is allowed on the residence of members who have served as a volunteer firefighter in an incorporated fire company for a minimum of five years. According to the school district's website, the law expresses appreciation and helps in the recruitment for more firefighters. 

Badala said the two sides have been in discussions about this exemption for 10 years, but pointed toward lack of information as the main factor for its rejection.

"It was denied in the past I think just over the lack of information presented to the board," Badala said. "We put the right people in place to get the information out, we had a few meetings with the superintendent [Rick Simon], who was a tremendous help getting this. 

"We can’t blame the school boards; we have to blame ourselves for not getting the right information to them. Once we got everything together, everything worked out well."

Statistics presented at Thursday night’s meeting noted that the average savings per firefighter is $697, while the average cost for the non-firefighter homeowner will increase $4 more per year. Out of the 207 volunteer firefighters within the WIFD, only 60 properties are eligible for the tax reduction.

"We are appreciative of the firefighters' sacrifice as well as the community's support of this initiative," said Annmarie LaRosa, vice president of the board of education."