ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz signed into law a 10% property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers with two years of experience in the county Wednesday afternoon.
“These are people that are willing to get up from dinner with their family,” Poloncarz said. “These are people that are willing to skip vacations. These are people that are willing to risk their lives to go answer a call most of the time for somebody that they don't know.”
The legislation received bipartisan support, passing unanimously in the county legislature on April 28.
It is part of an initiative in Albany that allows counties to opt-in to fight historically low volunteer first responder numbers, which dropped by 32% statewide in the past 23 years.
“There are some fire districts in Erie County where they really cannot respond on their own, and they immediately need to go to mutual aid calls because of the lack of firefighters in their departments,” Poloncarz said.
But some argue 10% isn’t enough to combat a continuous decline in recruitment and retention numbers. 2 On Your Side pressed the County Executive on if he thinks this will make a difference.
2 On Your Side: “We're talking about a 10% property tax exemption here. Do you think that's enough to make a difference in recruitment numbers?”
County Executive Poloncarz: “It's not going to hurt. It's not going to turn people away. It's going to make them if they weren't thinking about it beforehand, maybe think about it now.”
Officials say this isn’t a permanent answer, but a step toward a solution.
“Is this the answer? Absolutely not. It's a great starting point, though,” Erie County Legislator James Malczewski said. “It's a tool to be able to give the fire companies a way to bring in a new person, a way to keep a person that's there for another couple years.”