This State Is Handing Out Inflation Checks But Only Some Will Qualify

Onondaga County, New York, lawmakers passed a resolution to give some senior residents who are struggling during a time of high inflation a one-time cash gift.

A $200 stipend would be made to qualified households in upstate New York county for elderly individuals who fit the criteria under the proposed law.

“When we’re looking at the cost of everything else going up, there’s not a lot of flexibility even if they give them a little bump in Social Security,” Democratic Legislator Peggy Chase said.

Chase’s resolution, recently put before the county legislature, stated that seniors’ fixed income “amidst the highest rates of inflation since the 1980s,” makes them “disproportionately” impaired in terms of their “ability to maintain a stable and sustainable livelihood within the comfort of their home[.]”

Seniors must already be receiving New York’s Enhanced STAR exemption from school property taxes for the following academic year in order to be eligible for the payments. For households making $60,000 or less, when the property owner is at least 65 years old, this exemption applies.

The resolution proposed allocating $5.5 million for the initiative.

Chase’s fellow Democratic lawmaker Bill Kinne reportedly wanted the cash payments to include low-income families and said that “it would be nice to give it to everybody,” but that “logistically, we haven’t figured that out.”