County staff present exemption-impact data; veterans exemptions flagged for review

A county staff presenter walked the committee through an exemption-impact report that catalogs hundreds of New York State property-tax exemptions, parcel counts and exemption values across Ontario County. The presenter explained the methodology (exemption codes, equalized-value normalization across towns) and said the county has about $3.8 billion in exemptions, which represents roughly 17% of the county’s total equalized value.

Committee members asked for more granular data—address-level lists for specific exemptions, counts for parcels under industrial development-agency classifications, and scenario modeling for changes in veterans-exemption limits. Staff compared Ontario County’s current alternative-veteran limits (9/15/30) with other counties (Seneca, Wayne, Yates, Monroe) and provided modeled cost impacts for raising limits; staff emphasized that exemptions shift tax burden among taxpayers rather than reduce the levy collected by the county. The committee asked staff for a detailed exemption-impact report by municipality and suggested an additional follow-up on the policy choices and local fiscal trade-offs.