With the annual Town Meeting still underway, a special Town Meeting is on the horizon, scheduled for May 21, with just a few articles for consideration.
One of those four articles will require several motions related to senior and veteran tax relief programs. Some represent modifications to existing Belmont bylaws, while others are effectively housekeeping measures to ensure Belmont remains current with what’s already available within state statutes.
According to the special Town Meeting Warrant, Article 4 essentially seeks to adopt available local options in state law to increase certain property tax exemptions. One of the motions, Motion A, seeks to formally adopt a section of state law (M.G.L. Chapter 59, Section 5 C ½) that allows Belmont to offer real estate exemptions and for the Board of Assessors to double exemptions.
Other motions authorize the town’s ability to increase, on an annual basis, the amount of the exemption based on inflation and to bring the eligibility age from 70 years old to 65. Another motion addresses exemptions for veterans, in particular.
“Basically, these are existing programs the state offers,” said Senior Tax Relief Working Group member Kathy Keohane.
A majority vote is required for the measures to pass.
“This is a necessary first set of steps,” Keohane said. “We’re committed to doing as much as we can.”
The working group was established last summer with the task of exploring options for senior tax relief and improving education around what is already available. Already, their work has led to Town Meeting’s approval for the town to create a tax check-off donation program to benefit low-income seniors and those with disabilities.
According to Senior Tax Relief Working Group Chair Geoff Lubien, it will be about another year before enough money is raised for the Select Board to appoint a committee to distribute the funds.
Looking forward, the group is working on making the work-off program more robust. Specifically, Lubien mentioned spreading more awareness about the program and opening it up to more town departments than just the senior center.
“There’s a few things we’re investigating that might go in front of Town Meeting in the fall,” he said.
First, these motions need to get through Town Meeting.
“It’s all building momentum to bigger and better things,” Lubien said.
Lubien and Keohane said the impacts of the changes in front of Town Meeting this month are still to be determined, in particular, how many more residents will be eligible if the age of eligibility is decreased and the overall financial impact of expanding options for seniors, veterans, and disabled residents. They did say, however, that the difference in exemptions and taxes owed by the town will be paid for out of the Overlay Release fund.
Article 3, then, authorizes appropriations from the Overlay Release, a reserve fund. This article has three motions: to authorize $100,000 to support the Conservation Commission’s efforts to establish a conservation restriction on Rock Meadow; $225,000 for initial costs of a maintenance plan to enhance playing field maintenance for Belmont’s baseball, softball, and multi-purpose fields ; and finally, $275,000 to be transferred to the Capital Stabilization Fund.
The final article on the warrant, Article 4, is a citizen petition submitted by Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Paul Joy, which seeks to gauge the Town Meeting body’s support for plans to modify the Beech Street Center in a way that will accommodate the recreation staff in its administrative offices.
