EXCLUSIVE · TOWN HALL · LINDENHURST

Buried in an eighty-one-page resolution agenda, between a new stop sign on Frank Street and three condemned houses, the Town Board did something on October 7 that will matter enormously to a small number of Babylon families.

It made them exempt.

Local Law 16 of 2026, adopted 5–0, rewrites Article IV of Chapter 195 of the Town code. The new section — § 195-16.2, “Exemption for certain seriously disabled veterans” — says the primary residence of a seriously disabled veteran “shall be fully exempt from taxation and special district charges, assessments and special ad valorem levies.”

Not reduced. Fully exempt, special districts included.

The law hangs on subdivision 11 of section 458-a of the New York Real Property Tax Law, and it reads as a two-part test. A veteran has to satisfy one condition from the first list and the single condition in the second.

The first list — any one of these three. Discharged or released from active military, naval, space or air service under honorable conditions, which the law explicitly extends to Army and Air National Guard service performed under federal Title 10 orders. Or a qualifying condition as defined in section one of the Veterans’ Services Law, with a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable. Or a discharged LGBT veteran as defined in that same section of the Veterans’ Services Law, again with a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable.

The second condition, and the one that decides most cases. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has to consider the veteran permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service — and the law wants the paper. It asks for “a letter, official form, or other document” from the VA that specifically says so.

Two more lines are worth knowing. The taxable assessed value cannot be pushed below zero. And nothing in the new section cancels an exemption anyone already holds under subdivision three of section 458.

The timing is the part to act on. The law takes effect on filing with the Secretary of State, and it applies to assessment rolls prepared on taxable status dates on or after October 1, 2026 — which is to say now, not next year.

If that describes your household, the next call is the Town Assessor’s office, with the VA letter in hand. Town Hall is at 200 E. Sunrise Highway, North Lindenhurst; the main number is 631-957-3000. We are describing a law here, not giving tax advice — the Assessor decides what applies to your parcel.

The Board had opened a public hearing on the amendment earlier that same afternoon, which is the step that let it vote the same day. That hearing is closed. The law is on the books.

It landed, as it happens, the same week the Town posted its Veteran’s Awareness Week notice. One of those two things will still be true in April.

Source: Town of Babylon Town Board, resolution agenda, October 7, 2026 (Resolution 708 / Local Law 16 of 2026) · Town of Babylon Agenda Center