Amendment ID: S2397-25

Amendment 25

Means-tested senior property tax exemption

Mr. Tarr moves that the proposed new text be amended by inserting after section _ the following section:-

"SECTION_. Chapter 59 of the general laws as so appearing is hereby amended by inserting after section 5N the following section:-

5O. In any city or town that accepts this section, the board of selectmen or select board of the town, the town council of a municipality having a town council form of government or the mayor of a city, with the approval of the city council, with respect to each qualifying parcel of real property classified as class one, residential in the municipality, there shall be an exemption from the property tax equal to the total amount of the tax that would otherwise be assessed without this exemption less the sum of: (i) 10 per cent of the total annual qualifying income for purposes of the circuit breaker income tax credit under subsection (k) of section 6 of chapter 62 of the General Laws; and (ii) the amount of the circuit breaker income tax credit under said subsection (k) of said section 6 of said chapter 62 the applicant was eligible to receive in the year prior to the application being filed. The percentage of total annual qualifying income may be raised pursuant to section 3. In no event shall this exemption reduce property taxes by more than 50 per cent of the property taxes due after the application of the town's residential exemption. The exemption shall be applied to the domicile of the taxpayer only. For the purposes of this act, “parcel” shall be a unit of real property as defined by the municipality's board of assessors under the deed of the property and shall include a condominium unit.

SECTION 2. The municipality's board of assessors may deny an application if they find the applicant has excessive assets that place them outside of the intended recipients of the senior exemption created by this act; provided, however, that for the purposes of this act, what constitutes “excessive assets” shall be determined by guidelines set by the select board. Real property shall qualify for the exemption under section 1 only if:

(i) the qualifying real property is owned and occupied by a person whose prior year's income would make the person eligible for the circuit breaker income tax credit under subsection (k) of section 6 of chapter 62 of the General Laws;

(ii) the qualifying real property is owned by a single applicant 65 years of age or older at the close of the previous year or jointly by persons either of whom is 65 years of age or older at the close of the previous year and if the joint applicant is 60 years of age or older;

(iii) the qualifying real property is owned and occupied by the applicant or joint applicants as their domicile;

(iv) the applicant or at least 1 of the joint applicants has been domiciled in the municipality for not less than 10 consecutive years before filing an application for the exemption;

(v) the maximum assessed value of the domicile is not greater than the prior fiscal year's median assessed value of a residential parcel in the municipality assigned state use code 101 as a single-family home and state code 102 as a condominium plus 10 per cent; and

(vi) the board of assessors has approved the application.

SECTION 3.  A municipality may adopt ordinances or by-laws to implement this section in a way that is consistent with the intent of this section."