Cromwell won’t change senior, handicapped tax abatement policy this year

DECISION Ad hoc committee recommended shift from reimbursement to deferral

The town will not change its tax abatement policy for senior and handicapped citizens this year after all.

A five-member ad hoc committee appointed by First Selectman Mertie L. Terry has recommended shifting from the current reimbursement program to a deferral program.

Timing became a critical issue, Terry said Monday. Because a delay caused by the February blizzard and the impending onset of budget deliberations, “It will be too late to put into effect this

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year,” Terry said.

The Board of Selectmen scheduled a late-morning public hearing on the proposal for Feb. 12.

Members hoped that by scheduling the hearing during the day rather than at night that more senior citizens could turn out to express their opinions. But the hearing became yet another casualty of the Feb. 8-9 blizzard and had to be cancelled.

Terry said the selectmen still intend to hold the daytime hearing “sometime this spring.”

However, Terry said, too many other things have come up that will prevent action on the proposal in time for it be implemented this year.

The Board of Selectmen has already received its copies of the proposed 2013-14 town budget, and the Board of Finance last week scheduled three nights of budget hearings in April.

The program is designed to give a break to senior citizens and handicapped residents who meet specific income requirements in order to qualify for the program. Under the present abatement program, those residents who do qualify can receive payments of between $600-$900 to help pay their property taxes.

But the money that is left unpaid by those residents has to be picked up by the other residents in town.

And with the continuing economic slump, there are many, particularly younger couples, who are having troubles of their own making ends meet, Terry said in proposing the change.

In addition, it created extra work for Assessor Shawna Baron, who was forced to determine what counted as “income” in each house affected by the abatement program.

This past

year,

the town spent approximately $140,000 on the program.

The volunteer committee concluded that shifting to a deferral program which would defer the collection of taxes until the house is sold. The town would place a lien on the house to insure payment, committee members explained. Doing so would allow qualified residents to remain in their homes, the committee members said.

The Board of Finance rejected the shift to a deferral plan and instead argued for keeping both programs in effect. The selectmen in turn argued against that idea, saying it was unwieldy.