Surprise Response

by Alex Brooks
New Lebanon Assessor Craig Surprise said he felt a very inaccurate picture of the way STAR exemptions are handled was given by the remarks made by New Lebanon Councilman Bruce Baldwin at last week’s Town Board meeting, quoted in a report in this paper.
Surprise said no senior has lost a STAR exemption without warning, and no one ever will. By law he is required to send notice to the owner if he discovers that they are not eligible, and he must remove the STAR exemption. He sends them a letter, and they are then welcome to come in and discuss the matter with him if they disagree or if they do not understand. “I don’t arbitrarily remove people’s STAR exemptions,” he said.
“There are a lot of safety nets in place,” said Surprise. “We have three years to correct something if it’s not right.” He said refunds can be issued going back three years if a homeowner was eligible but did not get the exemption.
Surprise said that contrary to the remarks of Baldwin and new Lebanon Highway Superintendent Jeffrey Winestock, he spends a lot of time working with homeowners to make sure they get the exemptions to which they are entitled. “When the taxpayers contact me, I will take care of the taxpayers.” He said he believes that if there is a gray area, you give it to the taxpayer.
Surprise said the only properties that have ten year exemptions are agricultural and business properties. No residential property exemption has any such expiration date. All that is needed to continue STAR exemptions is documentation of the income and residency requirements. Surprise said he sends out letters each year to those with STAR exemptions telling them how to re-qualify for the exemption. He said he will meet with the Seniors in January and February to make sure they understand what they need to do to keep their exemptions in place.
Surprise said the County sent him in April of 2009 a list of STAR exemptions in New Lebanon which had out of town addresses and asked him to review them to determine if these houses were the primary residence of their owners. Several of them lost their STAR exemptions because their New Lebanon residence was a second home. It was one of the properties on this list that Councilman Baldwin called him about. Surprise said because he was in discussions with an attorney for the homeowners in that case, he was not able to discuss all of the details of the case with Baldwin, and he became exasperated by what he termed Baldwin’s “interference.” Surprise said he is continuing to work with the homeowners and their attorney to resolve the matter.