Brookhaven, Islip weigh tax cuts for spouses of fallen police officers

Brookhaven and Islip towns plan to join other Long Island municipalities that recently voted to offer 50% property tax cuts to the spouses of police officers killed in the line of duty.

Islip and Brookhaven would join Riverhead, Babylon and Smithtown. Those towns approved the exemptions earlier this month.

Nassau County and Huntington Town also plan to pass the measure, Newsday previously reported.

The tax exemption makes use of a state law that took effect this year allowing municipalities to offer the benefit to widows and widowers of police officers killed on the job. The exemption applies only to spouses' primary residences, and spouses must apply to their local governments, officials said.

The Brookhaven Town Board intends to enact its law Thursday, days before a March 1 state deadline to make those properties eligible for the exemption, town officials said.

The Islip Town Board plans to vote on the issue Tuesday. In a statement Friday, Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter said the tax exemption "is a meaningful way for the town to stand behind those families, honor their courage and service, and ensure they are never forgotten."

The Nassau County Legislature was expected to pass the measure, and Huntington Town is holding a public hearing on the subject Wednesday morning, Newsday has reported.

The Oyster Bay Town Board plans to hold a public hearing on the tax exemption next month, officials said.

At a recent Brookhaven Town Board meeting, Michelle Holfester, of Center Moriches, told officials the exemption would help her pay property taxes and other expenses following the death of her husband, William.

William Holfester, an NYPD detective, died Jan. 22, 2008, from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma he contracted from working hundreds of hours at the World Trade Center site and Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He was 43. 

“There are hardships, a lot," Michelle Holfester, 59, a retired medical office administrator, said during the Feb. 12 town board meeting. "A lot of us widows went through it, taking on expenses, bills. [We’re] used to the extra salary that we received from our husbands.”

State officials on Friday were not sure whether Holfester would be eligible for the exemption. The legislation refers to officers "killed in the line of duty," but does not specify whether that includes those who died from wounds or illnesses stemming from their service as police officers.

State officials last week said eligibility will be determined by the state Department of Taxation and Finance and the Division of Criminal Justice Services. Both agencies will "collaborate with localities to establish an application process," Kirstan Conley, spokesperson for Criminal Justice Services, said, adding localities "will be responsible for reviewing applications and administering the program."

In a phone interview Thursday, Michelle Holfester said her annual property taxes are "pretty high like everyone else's," adding the tax exemption would provide "really a big savings."

"I know I would be grateful," she said, adding the exemption also brings "honor to the ones we’ve lost.”

"It’s a thank you from a grateful nation,” she said.

Newsday's Sam Kmack, Joseph Ostapiuk and Tara Smith contributed to this story.