NEW SCOTLAND — New Scotland and Guilderland are looking to update their 2023 laws offering property-tax exemptions to volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers to include those who live in-town but volunteer out-of-town.

In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill allowing local taxing jurisdictions to offer a property tax break to volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers.

The following year, a number of local municipalities adopted laws granting a 10-percent property tax exemption for volunteers. The local laws also granted lifetime exemptions for volunteers with 20 years of active service and exemptions for surviving spouses.

The update to the 2023 law was introduced at the Feb. 12 meeting of the New Scotland Town Board; Guilderland plans to introduce its update during the March 4 meeting of the town board, according to Supervisor Peter Barber.  

New Scotland’s proposed local law would extend “any volunteer firefighter or volunteer ambulance worker who provides such volunteer services to a neighboring city, village town, county, or school district”; it defines “neighboring” as a jurisdiction that shares a boundary with the town.

So now, town residents who volunteer in one of New Scotland’s seven neighboring municipalities — Bethlehem, Coeymans, Westerlo, Berne, Knox, or Guilderland — will be able to receive a 10-percent property tax break.

There are four fire districts in New Scotland: Onesquethaw, which covers roughly the bottom half to two-thirds of the town and a large swath of Bethlehem. New Salem Fire District, which covers approximately the top third of town save for the areas covered by New Scotland’s other districts, Voorheesville and the Slingerlands Fire District. 

Guilderland’s fire districts include Altamont, Rotterdam, Fort Hunter, Guilderland, Guilderland Center, Westmere, and McKownville. 

Bethlehem has already adopted the law. 

Councilman Dan Leinung said New Scotland’s adoption of the law made for a  “good reciprocal argument” to Bethlehem’s implementation. “For us to match what Bethlehem’s doing and other surrounding towns to get more people involved in the local fire departments, in the local volunteer fire departments, it kind of makes sense if everybody around here is doing it. Then we don’t need to worry about creating other barriers for them joining the department.”

The new law isn’t likely to have a large impact on tax rolls. 

“Just to be clear, I think this is going to affect like one, maybe two people in New Scotland,” Councilman Adam Greenberg said on Feb. 12. “I heard from Supervisor [David] VanLuven that for Bethlehem, for people that don’t live in Bethlehem, but live in New Scotland or something, there were like two [volunteer first-responders].”

The board set a March 12 public hearing for the updated law.