Chautauqua County lawmakers are doing something to cut taxes — at least for those who are serving their communities. Last month, the Legislature approved a local law that allows for a 10% reduction in county property taxes for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.

To become eligible, individuals must have at least two years of being a volunteer of an incorporated fire company, fire department or incorporated voluntary ambulance service. They also have to own their primary residence. Volunteers with at least 20 years of experience can receive a lifetime reduction. A second local law passed allows for an unremarried spouse of a volunteer with 20 years of experience to continue to receive the reduction as well.

“This is a great initiative to helping us retain our members and hopefully get some recruitment so we can help others when they need us most,” said Jeff Molnar of the county’s Fire Advisory Board.

The legislation, which was proposed at the state level, allows local governments to give a break of up to 10% on property taxes to encourage more volunteer firefighters. “I think we all know what the volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers do for our communities. Without their services, we could be easily spending millions of dollars,” said Legislator Terry Niebel, R-Sheridan, who was one of the main county lawmakers to research the proposal.

While this reduction helps, others including school districts and municipalities, need to be on board. These entities rely on volunteers as well — and the county tax is lower than school taxes.

Though this effort is far from perfect, it still is a token of appreciation for all those responders do — on a 24-7 basis.