SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake has adopted a 10% property tax exemption for members of its volunteer firefighting and ambulance forces in an attempt to attract more volunteers to the lifesaving organizations.
Village resident Ellen Yousey asked for some figures on the impact this law will have at a meeting on Monday.
Mayor Jimmy Williams said this will likely cost less than a dollar per household for the rest of the village, who pick up that exempted portion of the tax burden.
Williams also said they estimate that the exemption will save an average of around $400 in taxes a year for a volunteer who owns a home assessed at $300,000. The more they can stack this with town exemptions, the better, he said.
The towns of North Elba and St. Armand, which the village partially sits inside, offer this exemption. The town of Harrietstown, which comprises most of the village, does not.
A 2022 state law gave towns and villages the option to provide this exemption with a local law. The local law allowing the exemption has to pass before Dec. 9. Williams said there’s a statewide effort to offer these volunteer exemptions.
Trustee Sean Ryan, a member of the Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad, abstained from the vote on Monday. It passed among the other four board members.
Some trustees initially supported the sentiment but were concerned about giving a tax exemption to the SLVRS, since it is a private company — not a for-profit company, but still private.
Trustee Aurora White said since the previous meeting, she had spoken to Ryan and people from North Elba to make sure the SLVRS is incorporated the way it needs to be to be eligible.
The state also offers an income tax exemption for fire and ambulance volunteers. Currently, they can only take either the income tax exemption or property tax exemption.
White also made sure the village law wouldn’t limit volunteers’ choice about if they’d rather take the income tax exemption or the property tax exemption, depending on which is more beneficial to them.
Several things will need to happen before the exemption will start having an impact on volunteers’ taxes, and it might be a while until they start seeing the results.
First, the volunteer departments will provide the village with a roster of eligible members. Then, the members need to opt in to the exemption. This will all need to happen before March, to start being used on next year’s taxes.
For years, local volunteer fire departments and ambulance services have been sounding the alarm about a decline in volunteerism. This puts these organizations’ futures at risk, and puts the community at risk, they say. Last year, former SLVFD Chief Brendan Keough called the decline “the biggest crisis” his department is facing.
To qualify, the volunteer must have served at least two consecutive years first. A volunteer of more than 20 years would get the exemption for life. This transfers to their spouse after the volunteer’s death, and ends upon remarriage. This works the same way if the volunteer is killed in the line of duty after serving at least five years.
The SLVFD has 36 volunteer members. The SLVRS has 45 members, 14 of whom are volunteers.
Village Clerk Amanda Hopf said she’s unsure how many of these volunteers live in the village — not many do, she said. She estimated the exemption would be given to around five people.
For a $350,000 home in the village in the town of North Elba, for example, the tax credit would be $340 per year, per volunteer. In Harrietstown, that credit would be $485. In St. Armand, it would be $405.
In 2024, North Elba had nine exemptions inside the village of Lake Placid and another 11 outside of the village, inside of the town.
To read more about this law, go to tinyurl.com/yc8bav7f.