AN ACT ESTABLISHING A MEANS-TESTED SENIOR PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION IN THE TOWN OF WILLIAMSTOWN
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. There shall be an exemption from the property tax for each qualifying parcel of real property classified as Class One, residential in the town of Williamstown in an amount to be set annually by the select board as provided in section 3. The exemption shall be applied only to the domicile of the taxpayer; provided, however, that for the purposes of this act, “parcel” shall mean a unit of real property as defined by the board of assessors under the deed for the property and shall include a condominium unit. The exemption provided for in this act shall be in addition to any other exemptions allowed by the General Laws.
SECTION 2. Real property shall qualify for the exemption in section 1 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: (A) by a single applicant not less than 65 years of age at the close of the previous year; or (B) jointly by persons either of whom is not less than 65 years of age at the close of the previous year and the other joint applicant is not less than 60 years of age; (iii) the qualifying real property is owned and occupied by the applicant or joint applicant as their domicile; (iv) the applicant or at least 1 of the joint applicants has been domiciled and owned a home in the town for not less than 5 consecutive years before filing an application for the exemption; (v) the maximum assessed value of the qualifying property is no greater than the town’s median single-family assessed value of the prior fiscal year plus 10 per cent; and (vi) the board of assessors has approved the application.
SECTION 3. The select board of the town of Williamstown shall annually set the exemption amount under section 1 up to 150 per cent of the amount 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. The exemption under section 1 shall be in addition to any other exemption allowable under the General Laws; provided, however, that there shall be a dollar cap on the total exemptions granted pursuant to this act of not more than 1 per cent of the fiscal year’s total residential property tax levy for the town of Williamstown, including the levy for the regional high school if not included in the town’s tax levy at some subsequent date, with the total exemption amount granted pursuant to this act allocated proportionally within the tax levy on all residential taxpayers; provided further, that the total cap on the exemptions granted pursuant to this act shall be set annually by the select board within a range of not more than 1 per cent, inclusive, of the residential property tax levy for the town; and provided further, that if benefits to the applicants may be limited because the cap on exemptions established annually by the select board would otherwise be exceeded, the limitation on benefits shall be allocated pro rata among the qualifying applicants.
SECTION 5. A person who seeks to qualify for the exemption under section 1 shall, before the deadline established by the board of assessors of the town of Williamstown, file an application, on a form to be adopted by the board, with supporting documentation relative to 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 town may deny an application if they find that the applicant has excessive assets that place the applicant outside of the intended recipients of the exemption under this act.
SECTION 6. 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 7. This act may be revoked by an affirmative vote of a majority of the voters of the town of Williamstown at any regular or special town election at which the question of revocation is placed on the ballot. Revocation shall take effect 30 days after an affirmative vote of the town to revoke this act unless the vote designates a different date, but not otherwise.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved, January 6, 2025.