NY S00688

Increases the property tax exemption for surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters or ambulance workers killed in the line of duty from up to 10% to up to 50% of assessed value

Reduces the minimum service requirement for killed volunteers from five years to between two and five years, as established by the local municipality

Extends eligibility for the surviving spouse exemption to property held in trust and to tenant-stockholders in cooperative apartment corporations

Changes terminology throughout the law from "un-remarried spouse" to "surviving spouse," potentially expanding eligibility to remarried surviving spouses

Requires local governments to adopt a local law, ordinance, or resolution after a public hearing to implement the 50% exemption for surviving spouses of those killed in the line of duty