Nassau County Chairman of the Board of Assessors Charles O'Shea, New York State Senator Michael Balboni and Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell have recently been making the rounds of the Mineola Senior Clubs to promote the much talked about, but often misunderstood STAR program.

O'Shea spoke for an hour last Thursday to the members of the Mineola Golden Age Club on the subject of the New York State School Tax Relief (STAR) program. Last year there was major promotion of this program by state officials aimed at senior citizens primarily because the Enhanced STAR Program was enacted.

Enhanced STAR is for senior citizen homeowners and is a partial exemption from school district property taxes. Applicants must be 65 years of age or older or must be that age by Jan. 2, 1999. The home, condominium, mobile home, farm home or cooperative from which the applicant is filing must be the applicant's primary place of residence and it must be the address from which they vote and file their taxes.

By Jan. 15 every school should be fully compensated for the STAR program, explained O'Shea.

Addressing the first misconception about STAR, O'Shea stated, "STAR is not costing the school district a nickel."

Balboni explained that the money that made the STAR Program available came from sources such as the conversion of welfare recipients into workfare participants.

"This STAR program is designed to keep you here, secure in your home," said Balboni to the members of the Golden Age Club.

The biggest misconception is that STAR is just for senior citizens, however, it is not.

STAR is broken down into two categories, the first is the Enhanced STAR which is applied for with a pink application (O'Shea noted one particularly important point in that the pink applications that were put into use last year are no longer acceptable. For a pink application to be acceptable it must have the Nassau County Seal, if it does not have that seal then throw it away, advised O'Shea).

The second form of STAR is that of Basic STAR which is applied for with a white application. The Basic Star Program is a partial exemption from school district property taxes offered to all homeowners, regardless of age or income, and for senior citizens whose income exceeds $60,000 year.

Everyone is eligible for STAR, said O'Shea, including the government officials who were on hand promoting the program. He advised everyone, whether they applied or did not apply last year or were rejected or accepted last year, to file once again.

The deadline for all applications for the STAR Program is Dec. 31. All applications must be filed with the Nassau County Department of Assessment, 240 Old Country Road, Fourth Floor, Mineola, NY, 11501. Applications are also available at this location. For information or applications contact O'Shea at 571-1500.

In the meantime O'Connell will be offering a workshop on Nov. 16 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mineola Memorial Library to help anyone who needs assistance filling out the proper applications.