Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Pleasantville Village Board of Trustees held a work session on Monday, August 11, 2025 (per agenda), but officially recorded as August 12, 2025. Discussion focused on a proposed property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, pool refunds, ZBA vacancy, annual meetings with boards and non-profits, joint meeting with the school district, and calendar conflicts. The board also received an update on school district discussions regarding turf fields and lights.
Okay. Welcome to the work session for the Village of Pleasantville Board of Trustees. Today is Monday, August 11. We have a fairly short agenda published for the work session, but a few other items we're going to chat about. First item up is a discussion regarding a partial village property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers. Eric can fill everybody in. This is an exemption that has already been passed by the county of the town and the school district, correct? Yeah. So what it would do is grant a 10% partial exemption on a village property tax or a member of the volunteer fire department or ambulance worker. They've had to have served two or more years. And then unremarried surviving spouses of volunteers with 20 or more years of service may continue the exemption. Unremarried surviving spouses of a volunteer killed in the line of duty without with at least five years of service may also continue the exemption. So that is taken from the school exemption. Obviously, we're free to move the needle as we wish, but that is the boilerplate that has been implemented essentially by the town and other towns around us as well. The town and the school have common language, right? Yes, correct. The parameters are common. I just want to make sure I understand you said so 20 or more years is when the lifetime exemption takes in. Is that right? It says, let's see, 20 plus years of active service. So just read from the um so uh further adopt. So volunteer fire ambulance worker who have had at least two years of applicable service in a volunteer fire company department or incorporated volunteer voluntary ambulance service located within the district that serves, or and that the other um item to note is they can serve within the Pleasantville fire district or an adjoining um fire department or ambulance corps. Which was a change that came about in conversation, I know at the county level where there are people, for example, who might live in Pleasantville but are part of a Thornwood Fire Department, or vice versa. Yeah. So um they have the I know that the internally they have standards for what's considered active. It's based on responding to a certain number of calls. Is that the way that this works? Well, I yeah, I believe that falls under the category of active service. You have to be an active member. Okay. Um I do think there are some administrative categories that qualifies being active, however. Yes, that is that is true. As there should be, I think. So it says central grants of volunteer firefighters, ambulance workers that approve more than 20 years of service, then eligible volunteer company as certified as certified by the applicable assessor, 10% exemption is set forth for the remainder of their life as long as their primary residence is located within Pleasantville. Right. So again, it obviously depends upon the fire department to certify who's active and who isn't. But that's right. Um in the end, it's in the view of the Board of Fire Commissioners that uh exemption that's appreciated by existing members and a