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Tax break option for flood damage

    ROTTERDAM — Property owners in the Schalmont Central School District affected by late-summer flooding can qualify for a break on their property assessment.
    The Board of Education on Monday agreed to opt in to a program set up under the Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee Assessment Relief Act passed last month in the state Legislature.
    People who lost more than 50 percent of the structural integrity of their houses qualify for a reduction in their tax assessment.
    If someone lost their whole property, they would just be taxed on the land, according to Schalmont Business Administrator Mark Kellett.
    For example, if a person’s property was assessed at $100,000 — $80,000 for the house and $20,000 for the land — and the house was destroyed, they would pay taxes only on the $20,000 assessed for the land.
    “We followed the lead of the town and the county who have already adopted this,” Kellett said.
    The district does not have a fi nal count from the town, but Kellett thinks it may be at least 10 houses that are affected.
    “We don’t have the devastation the way Schoharie had,” he said.
    The Rotterdam Junction area was most affected by the flooding.