Dagan Lacorte, Democratic candidate for Rockland County Executive, said today that household improvements that allow Rockland seniors to remain in their homes while aging should be exempt from revised property assessments that lead to property tax increases.

“When aging homeowners renovate to make their house senior friendly with modified kitchens, wider doors, lower level bedrooms or safer bathrooms they should not get hit with a higher tax bill,” Lacorte said, “Right now, only improvements that address serious physical disabilities receive an exemption. I want the people who built this county to remain comfortable in their homes for many years.”

Lacorte made the proposal at the Pascack Community Center in Nanuet while greeting senior citizens arriving for the monthly meeting of the Nanuet II Clarkstown Senior Citizen Club.

“It’s far cheaper to provide assistance for the aging at home than to subsidize nursing home care,” Lacorte said, “Seniors who age comfortably at home remain energetic, healthy and productive for many years.”

“Hubert Humphrey said that the moral test of government is how it treats those in the twilight of life, its seniors,” Lacorte said, “Rockland’s seniors have seen their taxes skyrocket for decades. Aging Rocklanders who need to modify their homes to meet their new needs should not get a tax hike.”

Lacorte said he would submit a home rule law to the State Legislature to amend Section 459 of the Real Property Tax Law to provide the additional exemption for assessments that increase as a result of senior-friendly improvements in Rockland.

“Our senior citizens built this community and we need to do everything we can to keep them in Rockland, Lacorte said.

(YWN Monsey Newsroom)