GALEF ET AL. - NY HAS MADE BIG CHANGES TO STAR REBATES--WHY LAWMAKERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH

NY has made big changes to STAR rebates. Why lawmakers have had enough--ALBANY - Enough already with the changes to the state’s STAR program!

That was the message this week from state lawmakers in the Hudson Valley, where property taxes are among the highest in the nation.

The popular STAR program now is a check for homeowners who earn between $250,000 and $500,000 a year.

And the state has made a series of other quiet adjustments in recent years to the yearly $3 billion program that gives homeowners a break on school taxes.

The annual tinkering with the program is creating confusion for homeowners and creating a headache for local tax assessors, who increasingly have less power over the program, state lawmakers said.

“We cannot continue to negotiate away this vital tax benefit year after year in the budget,” Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, Westchester County, said in a statement. https://www.timestelegram.com/news/20191128/ny-has-made-big-changes-to-star-rebates-why-lawmakers-have-had-enough