Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment House Bill No. 2852, “An Act Relative to Property Tax Exemptions for Rental Properties in the Town of Wellfleet Restricted as Affordable Housing.” 

This legislation broadens the Town of Wellfleet’s special act affordable housing tax exemption.  While I fully support the objectives of this bill, the amendments I propose below will facilitate the implementation of the tax exemptions and help to achieve the intended purposes of the bill:

In Section 1, after the words “and rented” delete the words “in accordance with” and insert the following words: “for an amount not exceeding the Fair Market Rents established by”; and, further, delete the words “rental ‘guidelines’”.

In Section 2, Delete the words “Occupants of” in the first sentence and insert the following: “Households leasing and occupying”; and further, after the words “80 per cent of the town of Wellfleet median family income” insert the following: “as established by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for Barnstable Town Metropolitan Statistical Area”; and further, after the words “120 per cent of the town of Wellfleet median family income as”, insert the following: “, as calculated on the basis of the same area median income statistic.”

Delete Section 3 and insert the following: “Maximum rents shall not exceed fair market rents established by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for the period commencing October 1 of the most recent year.  Property owners shall submit to the town of Wellfleet or its agent information on the rents to be charged.  Each year thereafter, on the first day of September, they shall submit information on annual rents charged and a signed lease to the town or its agent.  Forms for this purpose shall be provided.”

In Section 4, delete the last word, “value”, and insert the following: “rent as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.  To be eligible for exemption, the housing unit shall be leased to a low or moderate income household at such rents for the entire fiscal year for which the exemption is sought.”

Except as otherwise explicitly set forth in this amendment, delete the words “occupant” and “family” wherever they appear and substitute therefore the word “household”, and further, delete the words “occupants” and “families” wherever they appear and substitute therefore the word “households”.