FEMA, asylum seekers, tax exemptions discussed at Town Board meeting

The Lansing Town Board discussed properties affected by changes to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zones, immigrant displacement in upstate New York and tax exemptions to volunteer first responders at their May 17 meeting.

Tompkins County Legislator Mike Sigler, R-Town of Lansing, updated the board on the FEMA floodplain maps and outreach conducted by the federal agency. Sigler initially brought up the subject at the March 15 meeting.

Twenty properties were added to the updated maps, he noted, while 20 others were removed. Owners will now have to start looking for flood insurance. According to FEMA, the average homeowner’s flood insurance premium is approximately $700 a year. 

The 20 properties are in what the agency considers the AE flood zone. FEMA estimates that structures in these areas have a 1% annual chance of flooding and a 26% chance over the life of a 30-year mortgage.

Each of the estimated 20 properties added to the new maps resides in the AE flood zone. The FEMA maps had not been updated since the early 1980s.

On May 17, Sigler said he attended outreach meetings in the city of Ithaca, but noted that the level of dialogue with the community has not been up to par. He added that is especially true in Ithaca, where 850 homes have been added to the new FEMA maps.

“This is going to cost people a lot of money,” Sigler noted. “If everyone has to buy insurance, that is about $3.5 million a year that would go to insurance and not into the city of Ithaca.”

Sigler and town board members also discussed Texas’s decision to bus migrants away from the Lone Star state as a pandemic-era immigration policy prevented asylum seekers from entering the United States. Much has been said by municipal leaders in New York state about how to  handle people seeking asylum, including several counties adjacent to Tompkins County that have declared a state of emergency and denied migrants accommodation. Municipal leaders in those counties have cited an inability to provide services to migrants.

Sigler noted that the county is currently assessing the situation.

“That is the challenge, but we have to accept the fact that it is on us,” Sigler said. “We are responsible for it all, and 71% of the benefit costs will come from the county, so it will be expensive. But if people show up, that is what we do.”

Town Supervisor Edward LaVigne chimed in on the possibility of having an influx of people come into the area.

 “[The people coming in] have energy, they are willing to work,” LaVigne said. “If they are willing to work, they can be trained.”

Councilperson Bronwyn Losey proposed bringing in speakers from agencies that help immigrants in the county navigate life in America to address the board.

“We could ask someone to come and speak to us about what these issues look like,” Losey said. “Talk to us about resettlement and asylum seekers so we have a shared understanding of what agencies in town work with people. We are in a really interesting position as a town.”

Losey praised the local community.

“If people do land here, this is a really cool community with a lot of caring people,” Losey said. “We can mobilize that. If a lot of people land here, we are going to be tapped out. So what can we do creatively to help support people?”

LaVigne noted that bringing in experts would be very helpful.

Also at the meeting, the town board held public hearings to amend the local tax code and to provide a 10% property tax exemption to local volunteer first responders. The exemption is meant to reward volunteers for their service, as well as to incentivize recruitment.

Last December, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that creates an opt-in for all local governments to provide a 10% property tax exemption to volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers. The law took effect immediately and can be implemented by local governments such as Lansing’s.

To qualify, volunteers must have been a member of a volunteer fire department or ambulance service for two years. Volunteers who have accumulated more than 20 years of service are eligible for a lifetime exemption. 

The law also includes some provisions to provide the tax exemption to the spouses of deceased volunteers. 

A spouse of a deceased volunteer who lost their life in the line of duty who has not remarried would continue to receive the 10% exemption if the deceased volunteer had been a member of the fire department or ambulance service for the previous five years. That tenure requirement would change to 20 years for spouses of deceased volunteers who did not lose their life in the line of duty.

Councilperson Losey read the terms of the exemption.

“This article shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all assessment rolls filed after June 1, 2023,” she said.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on Twitter @ezvelazquez.

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