Amendment ID: S2397-57

Amendment 57

Local Option Cap for senior property tax

Messrs. Tarr, Fattman, Collins and Timilty move that the proposed new text be amended by inserting after section _ the following sections:-

"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."

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

"Section 5P. A city or town that accepts this section in the manner provided in section 4 of chapter 4 may impose a cap on property taxes for homeowners of the age of 65 or over; provided, that such homeowners shall meet the following income and asset requirements for eligibility, if single incomes of $50,000 or less, if married $60,000 or less and assets of $75,000 or less not including the primary residence and l motor vehicle registered to the applicant.

The assessments and tax rate changes of such homeowner qualified properties shall be recalculated on an annual basis. The lesser of the calculations shall prevail as the property tax levy for that year. For the purpose of this exemption, income means the “adjusted gross income” for federal income tax purposes as reported on the applicant’s latest available federal or state income tax return for the applicable income tax year, subject to any subsequent amendments or revisions, reduced by distributions, to the extent included in federal adjusted gross income, received from an individual retirement account and an individual retirement annuity; provided, that if no such return was filed for the application income tax year, income means the adjusted gross income that would have been so reported if such a return had been filed.

Section 2. A municipality may adopt ordinances or by-laws to implement this section in a way that is consistent with the intent of this section."