News Release - Feb. 2 is City Application Deadline for 2015-16 Senior Citizen and Enhanced STAR Exemption Filing

City of Rochester

News Release


(Thursday, January 15, 2015) – The City of Rochester announced today that 2015 Senior Citizen Tax Exemption applications for properties in the city of Rochester are due by Feb. 2, 2015 in the City Assessor’s Office. City officials want to avert confusion by highlighting that the City’s application deadline is one month earlier than tax exemption applications for local towns, which are due Mar. 2, 2015.

Senior tax exemptions will range from a fifty-percent reduction for those with 2013 incomes of $29,000 or less, to a five-percent reduction for those who didn’t earn more than $37,400 in 2013.

To qualify for the 2015 Senior Citizen Tax Exemption, residents must be age 65 or older by December 31, 2015; be an owner-occupant; have owned the property for 12 months or more and their 2013 income must not have exceeded $37,400. Social Security benefits are included in the annual income amount.

Seniors renewing their exemptions should already have received applications in the mail. Applications can be obtained by calling the City Assessor’s Office at (585) 428-6994, going to City Hall at 30 Church St., Rm. 101A, or by downloading the application at www.cityofrochester.gov/Assessment and clicking on “Residential Property Exemptions.”

City Assessor Thomas G. Huonker would like to remind residents that Enhanced School Tax Relief (STAR), New York’s school tax cut program for seniors 65 and older, is also available; Enhanced STAR is offered in addition to the City’s Senior Property Tax exemption. Seniors will automatically receive the Enhanced STAR exemption if they are approved for the City’s Senior exemption. If a resident doesn’t qualify for the Senior exemption, residents may still be eligible for Enhanced STAR if they did not earn more than $83,300 in 2013. The deadline for Enhanced STAR is also Feb. 2, 2015. Download STAR applications on the web at: www.cityofrochester.gov/Assessment and click on “Residential Property Exemptions.”

Residents can contact the City Assessor’s Office at (585) 428-6994 for further information about the exemptions.

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News Media: For further information, contact City Assessor Tom Huonker at (585) 428-6983.