By Marianne Sullivan, Source Senior Staff
Writer:
The Board of
Selectmen, after the appointment of a second ad hoc study committee and then
months more of debate, has recommended an amended senior property tax relief
program to the Board of Finance.
The amended proposal
accepts in large part the recommendations of the latest study committee. That
committee recommended a pro-rata distribution of all the monies set aside for
senior tax relief each year. The Board of Finance has customarily set aside 0.5
percent of the annual operating budget for senior tax relief. In this fiscal
year that amount totals slightly more than $300,000.
The study committee,
after considering a score of different scenarios, including a tax freeze for
seniors, eventually decided on the pro-rata approach, equally dividing the
funds set aside by the number of qualified participants in the program. In
years past the funds set aside for senior tax relief had not been fully
expended.
The selectmen, while
largely agreeing with the study committee, debated several issues, including
their concern that those residents most in need of tax relief receive the
greatest benefit under any program. Last week the selectmen finally agree on a
document and proposal to recommend to the Board of Finance.
The Board of Finance
must approve the recommendation and it must go to a town meeting before
returning to the selectmen for a final approval, Tax Collector Alma Carroll
explained.
Among the changes is
a name change. The program is now referred to as the Senior Tax Abatement
Allocation Program (STAA). Any resident at least 65 years of age who occupies
their Madison property as their primary residence and has paid real estate
taxes in Madison the previous tax year is eligible if the resident has applied
for property tax relief under the state programs tax relief programs, is not in
default on their Madison property taxes, and meets the income requirements in
the newly recommended plan.
Carroll said the
changes to the program, if approved, are not likely to exclude any senior
presently receiving an abatement. The number of participants in the present
abatement program has remained fairly steady at approximately 330 over the past
few years.