Seniors, vets, disabled now will get a tax break

Seniors, vets, disabled now will get a tax breakBy Magdalene Perez
Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/19/2008 02:43:21 AM EDT


STAMFORD - Senior citizens, veterans and disabled residents with incomes up to $120,000 a year now qualify for property tax relief.

City lawmakers voted nearly unanimously this month to raise the income limits for property tax abatement for seniors and the disabled and increase tax exemptions for veterans. The limits are now $100,000 for single people and $120,000 for married couples or members of civil unions. The previous tax relief amounts were $85,000 and $100,000, respectively.

The new regulations place a cap on net worth at $250,000 for single residents and $300,000 for legal couples, with an exemption for the value of homes up to $1 million.

The change is a "step in the right direction" toward helping seniors afford to stay in Stamford, said Jeanne Franklin, executive director of Stamford Senior Center.

Many retired people live on fixed incomes and find it difficult to keep up with rising taxes, she said.

"In Fairfield County, the cost of living is so tremendous that it makes it difficult for many," Franklin said. "We want to keep as many of our seniors in the community as possible."

Representatives who supported the proposal said it will encourage seniors to remain in the city.

City Rep. Jim Diamond, D-11, argued for the widening of tax relief at a board of representatives meeting last month, saying the measure "is a way of telling our seniors to stay in Stamford and that we recognize everything they have given to the community."

Diamond


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
argued that by retaining seniors, the tax policy would ultimately save the city money because seniors who leave are likely to be replaced by younger families with children, which would drive education costs higher.
The measure was introduced by city Reps. Robert DeLuca, R-14; Greg Lodato, R-20; and John Zelinsky Jr., D-11.

Others said the measure was misguided or did not address the problem of escalating property taxes.

City Rep. Arthur Layton, who cast the lone "nay" vote, disagreed with the decision, saying it extends tax breaks to those who do not need them. If city legislators want to help struggling seniors, they should instead eliminate the car tax for seniors with low incomes, he said.

"We're talking about giving tax relief to people with over a million dollars in assets and over $100,000 in income," Layton said. "I thought that was just simply too extensive."

Seniors and disabled people who apply for the tax abatement program receive a tax discount based on income, from $200 to $1,000 for single residents and $200 to $1,250 for couples, according to Tax Assessment and Collection Director Bill Forker.

Alternatively, residents can apply for tax deferral, which temporarily waives a portion of taxes, from $500 to $1250, either until the resident dies or sells the home. In the event of death, family members must pay the remaining taxes.

Only one person has chosen the tax deferral program, Forker said.

To qualify for either program, seniors must be 65 or older, or 60 years or older and the surviving spouse of someone who qualified at the time of his or her death.

Longtime Stamford resident and retiree Frank Tallo said the tax abatement program is not enough to help seniors living on fixed incomes keep their houses.

Tallo has lived in his modest West Side home since 1958. He raised his three children and took care of his wife until her final days there, and he does not want to move.

But this year, the city's assessment pushed his taxes from $3,792 to $6,094, he said.

Despite the $400 discount he received through tax abatement, paying that much in property tax is an ongoing trial, Tallo said.

His $1,450 monthly pension - for years of service to the city sanitation department - and $200 paychecks for part-time work at a Stamford dock only go so far to buy home heating oil, medicine, gasoline and everything else, he said.

Tallo said the truly compassionate solution would be to reassess home values to better reflect the slumping housing market and enact a tax freeze for all seniors.

"The pension doesn't go up, but the taxes keep going up all the time," Tallo said. "Now that the economy is going down, I still have to pay. I've been paying all my life."

In 2005, Board of Representatives President David Martin proposed a real estate tax freeze for all seniors, but the proposal was not carried out. At the time, then Director of Administration Ben Barnes said the freeze would have cost the city $1.5 million in reduced revenue in the first year.

This year, 1,049 people took advantage of the tax abatement program, at a cost to the city of $613,414 in tax revenues, according to Forker.

Forker said he cannot predict the new cost to the city with the expansion of the programs because it is hard to know how many people will apply.

This year, an additional 47 people applied for tax abatement over last year, he said.

The tax exemption program for veterans deducts $10,000 from the assessed value of the home.

At today's mill rate, veterans would save about $160, Forker said. The number of veterans who received tax exemptions this year was not immediately available, Forker said.

Those who wish to apply for tax abatement or deferral must do so by May 15.

- Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com or at 964-2240.
Seniors, vets, disabled now will get a tax break

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

All veterans and disabled people whould check with your state, county and cities to find out what type of tax breaks are available and other type of benefits are available they run the gamut from free bus rides, free fishing and hunting liceses etc, some times just asking what is available will surprise many people

Sphere: Related Content