By Staff Reporter
LOCKPORT — The Niagara County Legislature holds a public hearing at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday on a local law that would fully exempt the homes of the county’s most seriously disabled veterans from county property taxes.
The proposal would opt Niagara County into a new section of state law, Real Property Tax Law § 458-a(11), that lets counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts wipe out property taxes on the primary residence of a veteran the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs considers permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service. The hearing is in the Legislature Chambers at the County Courthouse, 175 Hawley St., according to the notice signed by Legislature Clerk Alysa T. Tomasino.
If Niagara County adopts it, it would join Erie County and the City of Buffalo, which both passed the same exemption this month.
What the state law does
The exemption was created by a 2025 state law and amended twice in this year’s legislative session, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. It is optional. Each taxing jurisdiction decides for itself whether to offer it, and it applies to assessment rolls with taxable status dates on or after Oct. 1, 2026.
To qualify, a veteran must have been discharged under honorable conditions, or meet the requirements of the state’s Restoration of Honor Act, and must have a letter or form from the VA that specifically says the veteran is permanently and totally disabled because of military service. The home must be the veteran’s primary residence. Veterans apply through their local assessor using state Form RP-458-a. In most communities the filing deadline is March 1.
That patchwork matters. A county law covers only the county’s share of a tax bill. Town, city and village taxes, and school taxes, are untouched unless each of those bodies passes its own version.
Buffalo and Erie County moved first
The Erie County Legislature approved the exemption 11-0 on Oct. 8.
“Veterans, especially disabled veterans, deserve as much support as we can give them,” Legislator Frank Todaro said, according to WBEN. “It really hits home that New York is ranked 38th in the country for helping disabled veterans,” he added.
WBEN reported that Erie County has about 12,000 veterans, about 2,500 of them listed as 100% disabled. Among them is Air Force veteran Garret Sokolowski of Lancaster, who pushed for the change after moving back from Louisiana. “By no means is this a ‘woe is me’ scenario,” Mr. Sokolowski told the station. “Disabled vets don’t have a voice in this matter, so I’m taking it up.”
Hamburg Councilman Dan Kozub, a Navy veteran and former county legislator, told WBEN he hopes other jurisdictions follow. “Sometimes it is heart wrenching to plead and beg for benefits that should be owed to you,” he said.
Five days later, on Oct. 13, the Buffalo Common Council passed the city’s version unanimously and Mayor Sean Ryan signed it the same afternoon, the city said.
“Veterans who come home from military service with permanent disabilities return to a life with new challenges to navigate every day,” Mr. Ryan said. Council President Joel Feroleto, the sponsor, said, “Those who have given part of themselves in service to our country should never be burdened by the cost of keeping a roof over their heads.”
Buffalo’s exemption covers city taxes only, not Buffalo school taxes. The city says veterans who already get its disability-based veterans exemption must send a recent VA letter by Dec. 1 to be verified, and the full exemption will show up on city bills issued in July 2027.
The questions for Niagara County
The one-paragraph hearing notice does not include the text of the proposed law, an estimate of how many Niagara County homeowners would qualify, or what the exemption would cost.
Those are the numbers residents will want. When a property is exempted, the county’s tax levy does not shrink; it is spread across everyone else. How much that shift would be depends on how many veterans qualify, and the county has not published a figure.
Niagara County has expanded veterans’ breaks before. In October 2024, the Legislature passed Local Law 3 of 2024, raising the caps on its alternative veterans exemption to $30,000, $20,000 and $100,000 for the three tiers of that benefit.
The bigger question is what happens below the county level. Lockport, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda and the county’s towns and school districts would each have to act for a qualifying veteran’s whole bill to disappear. In Erie County, WBEN reported, the towns of Tonawanda and West Seneca and the City of Lackawanna had already backed the idea.
“This is an important piece of legislation, and I am proud to support this measure that hopefully gives our disabled veterans some peace of mind,” Erie County Legislature Minority Leader John Mills said after that county’s vote.
Veterans with questions about eligibility can contact their county veterans service agency or their local assessor, the state tax department says. The Buffalo Chronicle is asking the Niagara County Legislature for the proposed law’s text and any estimate of its cost and will update this story.
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