Suffolk County Efficiency Plan Approved by NYS Division of Budget; Taxpayers to Get Rebate Checks

(Hauppauge, NY-October 14, 2015)  County Executive Steve Bellone announced today that Suffolk’s Tax Freeze/Government Efficiency Plan submitted by the Suffolk County Budget Office has been approved by the New York State Division of the Budget and will be forwarded to the Department of Taxation and Finance to begin the process of calculating tax refunds for Suffolk County homeowners.

“This is good news for Suffolk County homeowners,” said County Executive Steve Bellone.  “Because we made government more efficient and stayed under the tax cap, Suffolk County residents will get a state rebate check for the county share of their tax bill.  Today’s approval of Suffolk’s Government Efficiency Plan is a win for Suffolk County residents.”

The NYS Property Tax Freeze Credit was established by State Law in 2014 and encourages local governments and school districts to generate long-term tax relief for New York State taxpayers by:

• sharing services;
• consolidating or merging; and
• demonstrating and implementing operational efficiencies.

Due to the recent approval of the Suffolk County Plan, qualified homeowners which are described as homeowners eligible for the School Tax Relief (STAR) property tax exemption; and live in a taxing jurisdiction that both: limits any increase in its tax levy to a property tax cap set by State law; and, develops and implements a Government Efficiency Plan determined to be compliant by the New York State Division of Budget, will receive a Freeze Credit equal to the greater of: the actual increase in their homeowner’s tax bill; or the previous year’s tax bill multiplied by an inflation factor (the lesser of 2% or inflation).

Tax rebate checks to Suffolk County homeowners will be processed by the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance once Suffolk County files its tax levy information at the end of December.