BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — The town board hopes to pass a law that would establish a real property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.

Board members approved a resolution introducing the law at their meeting Sept. 10. They also set a public hearing on the issue for Oct. 8 at 5:05 p.m.

The exemption is allowed under New York Real Property Tax law 466-a.

If the law passes after the public hearing on Oct. 8, it would provide a 10 percent real property tax exemption to qualifying volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.

According to the law, to qualify for 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 Town of Potsdam and has a minimum of two (2) years of service with an organization that serves the Town of Potsdam; and
• The individual resides in the Town 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.

The law also 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 Potsdam.

Finally the law would also continue the tax exemption 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 town and been receiving the exemption prior to their death.