ALBANY COUNTY — As fewer volunteer to fight fires and run ambulances, the Albany County legislature approved a resolution last week giving active volunteers an exemption on their county property taxes.

State legislation signed by Governor Eliot Spitzer on Aug. 1 allows enrolled members of volunteer fire departments and ambulance services in Albany County to have 10-percent knocked off their homes’ assessed values, multiplied by the latest state equalization rate. The savings from the exemption cannot exceed $3,000.

The local law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2008.
Alexander "Sandy" Gordon, a Democrat who represents the 39th District — the towns of Berne, Knox, and Rensselaerville — sponsored the law.
Albany County is about the 27th county in the state to take advantage of the exemption, said Gordon. He sees the tax exemption as an effort "to recognize the challenges volunteers meet." We’ve gotten "wonderful support from them," he said. With declining numbers in volunteer emergency services, it has been "hard to fill the ranks," Gordon said, and the exemption provides an incentive.

To receive an exemption, active volunteer firefighters and ambulance corps members are required to have served for five years. To remain eligible, they are required to accumulate 50 points each year. Points are granted for a number of activities: completing training sessions and drills, working at night, or attending official meetings or participating in single responses or on standby. Departments will be responsible for tracking the points.

Volunteers with more than 20 years of active service qualify for lifetime exemptions.

Gordon said that, by signing legislation, Spitzer was urging the state to make the exemptions universal. Gordon is going to track how many counties offer the exemption without the stipulations that have so far precluded certain counties from receiving the exemption.

Volunteers have, back to the time of bucket brigades, provided a strong line of protection for people and property, Gordon said.