AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF MELROSE TO ESTABLISH A MEANS-TESTED SENIOR CITIZEN PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. With respect to each qualifying parcel of real property classified as class one, residential in the city of Melrose, there shall be an exemption from the property tax in an amount as provided for in section 3.
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 board of assessors of the city under the deed for the property and shall include a condominium unit. The exemption provided for herein shall be in addition to any and all other exemptions allowed by the General Laws.
SECTION 2. Real property shall qualify for the exemption under this act 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 who was age 65 or older at the close of the previous year or jointly by persons either of whom is age 65 or older at the close of the previous year, 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 and owned a home in the city of Melrose for not less than 10 consecutive years before filing an application for the exemption; (v) the assessed value of the domicile is no greater than the prior year's maximum assessed value for qualification for the circuit breaker income tax credit under said subsection (k) of said section 6 of said chapter 62, as adjusted annually by the department of revenue; and (vi) the board of assessors has approved the application.
SECTION 3. The exemption amount provided in this act shall be 150 per cent of the circuit breaker income tax credit under subsection (k) of section 6 of chapter 62 of the General Laws for which the applicant qualified in the previous year. The total amount exempted by this act shall be allocated proportionally within the tax levy on all residential taxpayers.
SECTION 4. A person who seeks to qualify for the exemption under this act shall, before the deadline established by the board of assessors file an application on a form to be adopted by the board of assessors along with the supporting documentation of the applicant's income and assets as described in the application. The application shall be filed each year for which the applicant seeks the exemption. The board of assessors of the city of Melrose may deny an application for an exemption under this act if they find the applicant has excessive assets that place the applicant outside the category of intended recipients of the senior exemption created by this act.
SECTION 5. No exemption shall be granted under this act until the department of revenue certifies a residential tax rate for the applicable tax year where the total exemption amount is raised by a burden shift within the residential tax levy.
SECTION 6. This act shall be repealed after 3 years of implementation of the exemption.
Approved, July 6, 2022.