On Thursday, February 28, 2008, House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill (111 YEAS to 34 NAYS) which would permit a municipality in Massachusetts to create an exemption for low and moderate income seniors when it places a Prop 2 ½ override on the ballot. The bill would give our local Town Council the option of giving lower-income seniors a tax break if voters adopt an override. The tax exemption would apply to homeowners 65 or older with a family income of $60,000 or less, provided that their real estate taxes exceed 10 percent of their total income. To read the full text of the bill, now known as House Bill No. 4534, click here.
The bill is now pending with the State Senate. It was referred to the committee on Senate Ethics and Rules. Franklin has two senators who can be contacted on this matter: Karen Spilka and Scott Brown. Senator Spilka happens to be a member of the Senate Ethics and Rules Committee. In order to ensure passage before the start of the next fiscal year, contact your State Senators, and urge them to support this measure.
Geoff Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said the group backs the measure. According to an MMA press release, the law, if enacted, it would be the seventh law passed since 2004 to ease property tax burden for the elderly, veterans and other eligible local taxpayers. The MMA also noted that the increasing dependence on the property tax to pay for municipal and school services has been a growing concern for state and local officials statewide over the past several years. The new abatement legislation would provide another option to target tax relief to needy taxpayers.
WBUR did an interesting story on the proposed bill which can be viewed by clicking here. The story covers the plight of seniors faced with the impact of an override, and the benefits of this legislation.
For those on fixed incomes in Franklin, who no longer have children in the school system, we believe that this legislation offering property tax relief to seniors is vital to easing the burden of a tax increase resulting from an override.
