Good to hear from Gov. Hochul in last week’s letters to the editor. In her open letter to DHS Secretary Mullin, our governor demanded transparency from Washington. But what about transparency from Albany when it comes to New York’s disabled veterans?

Earlier this year, with great media fanfare, Gov. Hochul signed into law a bill granting full residential property tax exemption to qualified New York disabled veterans. Additionally, the governor directed that the exemption be made mandatory throughout the state. Unfortunately, this piece of legislation was carelessly worded, resulting in misinformation and confusion as to which veterans actually qualified. Then, during their efforts to pass the overdue state budget, the same legislature that had passed the bill without a single nay vote, amended the new law. The governor’s mandate suddenly vanished, without as much as a peep from the media. Now, each local taxing jurisdiction will have the option of either granting or denying the exemption, thereby eliminating uniformity across the state. Further obscuring the issue is the fact that the state has yet to release the required application form and instructions, even though the deadline for filing is October 1.

In reality, the number of New York veterans who will even qualify for this exemption is minuscule. However, just as Gov. Hochul had expressed in her letter chastising Washington, the real issue here is transparency, or the lack of it. Was this flawed legislation, which had originally been touted as a real benefit to New York’s disabled veterans, nothing more than bipartisan political posturing in an election year?