ROSENDALE – Ulster County has been trying to repair the physical scars from last summer’s violent storms, and now property owners are getting tax relief from damage suffered from the devastation.

County Executive Michael Hein signed a resolution Thursday authorizing the county’s participation in the “Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee Relief Act.”

The legislation allows property owners to get a reduction in taxes depending on the amount of damage incurred in the storms, ranging from a 55 percent decrease, with damage between 50 percent and 59 percent, to a complete reduction if the property was damaged 100 percent.

Property owners have until March 8 to submit a written request to their assessor regarding their tax reduction. Donna Spano, of Wawarsing, had her home condemned after last summer’s storms.

“After a two-year renovation of my home, floods destroyed it,” Spano said, and this program will give her relief.  “Any relief at this point is a blessing.   Unless you have been exposed to what we have been exposed to, the flood victims, you don’t understand how dramatic it is. It’s almost better to have a tornado and have them take your house away than to go through a flood.”

The legislation was a bi-partisan effort between the Republican-led Legislature and Hein, a Democrat.

“You are not going to have to be in the situation where you have to wait and wait to pay taxes on something that’s been demolished, condemned or severely damaged,” said Hein. “This is about people, your neighbors. This is an opportunity to make things right.”

 “We really came together as a team to help Ulster County,” said Terry Bernardo, Ulster County Legislature chairwoman, a Republican.

 The towns of Kingston, Rosendale, Wawarsing, Ulster and the Onteora School Distract are participating in the program. And all county property taxes are reduced due to the flood damage 50 percent or more.

The measure was advanced on the county level by Republican Legislator James Maloney.