Dear Shareholders,
NYS recently set a cap on the annual increase allowed under the STAR (School Tax Relief) program and retroactively applied it to the 2011/2012 fiscal tax year ending June 2012.
On your August maintenance bill you will notice a charge called “STAR” for $15.34. This is the NYS chargeback to STAR recipients that represents the excess of the allowable amount based on the cap.
Your June bill reflects credit of ($303.59) less this chargeback of $15.34 resulting in a net credit of ($288.25).
For those of you who do not receive the STAR rebate you may apply for it directly with NYS.
There are two types of STAR exemptions:
Basic STAR
- available for owner-occupied, primary residences where the resident owners’ and their spouses income is less than $500,000
- exempts the first $30,000 of the full value of a home from school taxes
Enhanced STAR
- provides an increased benefit for the primary residences of senior citizens (age 65 and older) with qualifying incomes
- exempts the first $62,200 of the full value of a home from school taxes as of 2012-13 school tax bills (up from $60,100 in 2011-12)
STAR exemptions apply only to school district taxes. They don’t apply to property taxes for other purposes, such as county, town or city (except in cities where city property taxes fund schools – Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers).
You can use the following link to learn about the program and apply.
http://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/star/apply.htm
Be advised that the deadline to apply for the 2012/2013 fiscal tax year was March 1, 2012. The deadline for the 2013/2014 fiscal tax year is March 1, 2013. You only need to apply for this program one time and will continue to automatically receive the credit on your apartment every year unless it is terminated by NYS. If you sell your apartment and purchase another primary residence in NYS you must reapply.
I apologize for not having this information available to distribute to you before you received your August bill.
Have a good weekend
Mitchell Stein
Account Executive
Senior Financial Analyst
Orsid Realty Corp
310 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10025
Direct 212-864-1700
Fax 212-866-8709
www.orsidr.com