BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM – A proposed amendment to the village of Potsdam’s tax code could mean a 10 percent tax break for firefighter and ambulance workers and the spouses of those emergency workers who have passed on.

The village board of trustees held a public hearing on the pending amendment at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3. 

The subject of the hearing,  proposed Local Law No. 6 of 2024, would amend Chapter 153, Taxation, to add Article XII, Volunteer Firefighter and Ambulance Workers Exemption of the Village of Potsdam Municipal Code.

According to the resolution, the following qualifications need to be met to receive the exemption:

• The individual is an enrolled and certified member of an incorporated volunteer fire company, fire department, or volunteer ambulance service that serves the Village of Potsdam and has a minimum of two (2) years of service with an organization that serves the Village of Potsdam; and
• The individual resides in the Village of Potsdam and the property receiving the benefit is the primary residence of the individual and is used exclusively for residential purposes, and any portion of the property not used for residential purposes shall be subject to taxation.

According to the village’s local law, the amendment would allow a lifetime real property tax exemption of 10 percent for firefighters and ambulance volunteers that have accumulated 20 years of active service and who have their primary residence in the Village of Potsdam.

Like a recent town law that was passed in October, the village’s exemption would also continue for any unremarried spouses of volunteer firefighters or ambulance workers who were killed in the line of duty. To qualify the deceased volunteer would have had to have served for 5 years in the village and been receiving the exemption prior to their death.

The village board is expected to pass the law at some point following the Dec. 3 public hearing.