Some Benefits For Seniors In Budget, But It's Not Final Yet

In the budget agreed to by both houses of the state legislature last week, there appeared to be fewer benefits for seniors than in the budget proposed by Governor George Pataki last February.

In the budget passed by the legislature, the major news was the $11.2 million tentatively approved for school construction, the central issue pursued by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

But the next major item presented for approval in the budget was a $4.1 billion, two-year tax cut plan, which calls for a property tax rebate of $400 for homeowners, including seniors, which would be mailed out in October.

There is also a formula in the budget to provide some relief to New York City residents, a category that would also include seniors. However, no details that would enable anyone to compute the benefit for the various income sectors were released.

Elimination of the penalty paid by taxpayers filing joint returns, which is proposed in the legislature's budget and also supported by Pataki, would also benefit married seniors filing jointly.

When Pataki issued his proposed 2007 budget last February, he noted the success of the STAR program he introduced in 1997 to provide seniors and homeowners real relief from school property taxes.

But, he said, in recent years the effort to provide this property tax savings through STAR had been severely undercut as school districts steadily increased their budgets.

"The budget I have proposed will ease the financial strain seniors and families across the state are currently experiencing as a result of escalating school property taxes," he declared.

The governor made two proposals to relieve seniors of their tax burden: one, index the income level which is applied to seniors' eligibility for the STAR exemption; and two, provide a $400 annual rebate check in October to homeowners, including seniors, residing in certain school districts.

Under the inflation indexing the governor spoke of, the current $50,000 enhanced exemption for income-eligible seniors would be increased to $56,800, reflecting cost-of-living increases since STAR was created in 1997. Similar cost-of-living adjustments would be made automatically in future years, the governor said.

"This new measure would save New York's seniors a total of $72 million and is estimated to increase the average senior homeowner's STAR benefit by more than 10 percent," Pataki estimated.

The STAR-Plus $400 annual rebate would be extended to homeowners, including seniors, who reside in school districts that adopt a spending cap on their school budgets.

Pataki also proposed helping thousands of seniors pay for rising energy costs and providing them with a $500 heating fuel tax credit.

According to published reports, the governor is very dissatisfied with the budget approved by the legislature.

This indicates more negotiations between him and legislative leaders Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, or gubernatorial vetoes of some parts of the budget. As a result, everything is still subject to change. We'll just have to wait until the budget is signed, sealed and delivered before we can really say what benefits seniors will derive from it.

MARSHALL OFFERS RESOURCE GUIDE: Borough President Helen Marshall's office has published an updated edition of a Senior Citizen Resource Guide for the borough's residents. It's available by calling her office at 718-286-2864. Leave your name, address and telephone number and it will be mailed to you.

"The Senior Guide is one of my office's most popular publications," Marshall said. "Queens is home to more than 374,000 individuals over the age of 60 and this guide is geared to providing the services and programs that they can use to stay safe, secure and independent."

The 44-page guide is filled with information about how, where and who to get help for everything from in-home support services to housing and transportation to crime-stopping security services.