North Country Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne, D-Theresa wants the state to revert the STAR tax exemption to the previous system following a variety or issues with the new rollout.

Jenne is co-sponsoring legislation (A.5969) to reform the state’s School Tax Relief (STAR) program and revert back to the system that had been in place for a number of years

Before last year, all eligible homeowners saw a yearly reduction in their school tax bill. Now, all new homeowners – those buying their first home and those who moved to a different home – have to pay their full school tax bill but receive a rebate check from the state.

Those checks were supposed to arrive in the fall before property owners paid their school taxes in September in the North Country, but the state was unable to meet that deadline.

"The new system has proven to be terribly inconvenient and the inability to get the rebate checks in the hands of property owners before their tax bills are due defeats the program's goal of easing the burden on the state's homeowners," Assemblywoman Jenne said.

"It is clear the move to have the program administered by the state Department of Taxation and Finance has not been effective, and the testimony at a recent joint budget hearing offered little hope many of the problems that have plagued the program in the past year are going to be fixed in year two or even down the road," she said.

The proposed legislation reverses the changes made last year, including a return to the local administration and an upfront reduction in yearly school tax bills for all eligible homeowners.

The changes made to STAR last year included switching administration of the program over to the state Department of Taxation and Finance instead of local assessors and altering how certain homeowners receive their tax relief.

"I, like my colleagues, have heard stories about seniors being forced to borrow money from relatives to pay their school tax bills that were due before they received their rebate checks," she noted.

"I've also heard from property owners waiting months to get their rebate checks and then discovering they were for the wrong amount and from local residents being placed on hold for sometimes up to two or three hours when they phoned the call center seeking answers to questions about the STAR program,' Assemblywoman Jenne said.

Administration of the program would be returned to the hands of local assessors, and the bill requires the state to help localities in notifying residents of these new changes so that all qualified homeowners receive the exemption.

“The changes made last year did little more than penalize our hard-working families and seniors that moved into new homes only to learn their tax burden would be much higher than they expected," Assemblywoman Jenne said. "They simply hindered many homeowners’ ability to receive tax relief in a timely and convenient manner. That’s why I’ve been fighting to ensure that we fix those issues so that families aren’t left waiting for a check to make ends meet.”