County officials are encouraging homeowners to take advantage of the county's real property tax relief programs. The deadline to apply for most of them is Dec. 31, 2009.

The Home Exemption program entitles homeowners who own and occupy their property as their principal residence to a $48,000 deduction from their property assessment. At ages 60-69, the amount for this exemption doubles to $96,000, and for those 70 and older, the exemption is $120,000.

Another tax relief program is the Additional Home Exemption Relating to Owner-Occupants' Income, which would enable a homeowner to shave an additional $55,000 deduction from the property assessment if the owner's adjusted gross income for 2008 was $40,000 or less.

Other programs available are the Circuit Breaker Tax Credit; Long Term Affordable Rental Credit, Deployed Active-Duty Military Personnel; Totally Disabled Veterans; Kuleana landowners; and Persons who are vision- or hearing-impaired, totally disabled or affected with Hanson's Disease.

Applications for all tax relief programs can be downloaded from www.kauai.gov or www.kauapropertytax.com or call 241-4224.