A hearing will be held Wednesday night, Dec. 4, at Village Hall, 155 Washington Avenue, at 6:30 p.m. on a proposed local law that would give members of the Mineola Fire Department a partial tax exemption on the village portion of their property taxes.

If the local law is adopted, Mineola firefighters who have at least five years of membership would be entitled to 10 percent off the assessed valuation of their homes when it comes to village property taxes. For the average home in Mineola, the tax break amounts to $70 to $75 per year.

The exemption would be offered to each firefighter who resides in the village and would only be applied to property that serves as the primary residence of the firefighter. The property must be used exclusively for residential purposes. If a firefighter serves in the department for 20 years, that firefighter or his or her spouse would receive the exemption on their primary residence for life.

The village is holding the hearing since a New York State law is giving municipalities the authority to offer volunteer firefighters and emergency personnel the tax reduction, but the state will not be reimbursing municipalities for the reduction.

One supporter of the law is Mineola Mayor John P. Colbert, who said he would be voting for it. "We have volunteers who, at a moment's notice, give to their community and considering what they are risking, this is the least a community can do for its firefighters," he said.

The law is designed to help fire departments maintain enrollment in fire departments while offering an incentive to recruit new members. Mineola Fire Department Chief Mike DeStefano, who estimates the six of the departments to be 144 members, said Mineola has been fortunate in terms of recruitment because of the success of its junior fire department program, but feels a partial tax exemption would be a boost to the fire services. "It's not a substantial amount of money, but it's something," he said. "It's just to say we care. We understand you're giving up your time. You cannot believe the time that is put in as a volunteer fireman. I think I put more hours in as a volunteer chief than I do at my regular job."

Chief DeStefano did say, however, that most of the kids in the junior fire department are 14 and 15 years old and are a few years away from being eligible to join the fire department, so there may be a lull in enrollment. The chief also said the Mineola Fire Department did not receive an influx of members following Sept. 11, 2001 whereas some departments did.

Chief DeStefano said he is pleased Nassau County and the village appear to be taking the state's lead in offering firefighters some kind of exemption, but was critical of the Town of North Hempstead for not responding to his letter asking for an exemption on town taxes. "I'm totally shocked that my letter has not been responded to either in writing or verbally from the Town of North Hempstead board. Are they supporters of the fire service or what?" asked DeStefano.

Town of North Hempstead spokesperson Lauren Corcoran said Supervisor May Newburger is for a tax exemption for service volunteers and figures to sponsor a resolution at the next town board meeting on December 10 for a tax exemption for firefighters and emergency personnel. "Probably by the new year, you should see it," she added. "Supervisor May Newburger is actually sponsoring it so she's more than in favor of it."

In the case of the Village of Mineola's proposed local law, it would not apply to independent entities such as the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Mineola Auxiliary Police.