Senior Tax Relief Under Review

Town officials tonight began to organize a review of the town's tax relief program for senior citizens and totally disabled residents with the goal of recommending potential changes - if any - to the Representative Town Meeting by late summer or early fall.

Four of the five members on the RTM Senior Tax Relief Committee voted to elect officers, set meeting dates and decided to invite Town Assessor Thomas F. Browne Jr. to the group's meeting at 7:30 p.m. May 5, at a location to be determined, to discuss the tax relief program as it now exists.

Members of the RTM Senior Tax Relief Committee - who also are RTM members - are Hank Ference, R-3, chairman; Christopher J. Brogan, D-6, vice chairman; David M. Becker, R-1, secretary; Alexis P. Harrison, R-2; and Kevin L. Hoffkins, D-7. Hoffkins was absent from tonight's meeting.

Becker said Browne told him changes to the tax relief program would have to be approved by the 50-member RTM by the end of this year for the changes to take effect in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Ference said he didn't think the RTM Senior Tax Relief Committee would recommend too much in the way of adjustments to the existing program, which provides about $3 million in tax relief to senior citizens and totally disabled residents in the current fiscal year.

Ference and other committee members said they wanted to hear feedback from senior citizens in town, and they set up a meeting at 10 a.m. June 5 at the Fairfield Senior Center for that purpose.

"We're going out to the people most likely affected," Brogan said.

Committee members also want to find out how much other towns offer in local tax relief for senior citizens and totally disabled residents.

Westport's tax relief program for seniors is similar to Fairfield's, though it has fewer brackets for qualifying income, according to information posted on the town of Westport's Web site.

Fairfield's tax relief program now has three options - a tax credit option, a tax freeze option and a tax deferral option.

Senior citizen households who have annual income not exceeding $57,600 are eligible for the tax credit program, which is by far the most popular of the three options.

The breakdown on the credit program for senior citizens and totally disabled residents is:

Annual income not exceeding $13,700 - credit of $4,100 for a married couple, $3,700 for a single;

Annual income from $13,701 to $19,700 - credit of $3,700 for a married couple, $3,400 for a single;

Annual income from $19,701 to $24,300 - credit of $3,100 for a married couple, $2,700 for a single;

Annual income from $24,301 to $29,000 - credit of $2,700 for a married couple, $2,400 for a single;

Annual income from $29,001 to $35,600 - credit of $2,100 for a married couple, $1,800 for a single;

Annual income from $35,601 to $41,600 - credit of $1,400 for a married couple, $1,100 for a single;

Annual income from $41,601 to $57,600 - credit of $800 for a married couple, $800 for a single.

The town of Westport's tax relief program for senior citizen households offers a tax credit of $3,500 for senior households whose annual income is less than $25,000; a $3,000 tax credit for senior households whose annual income is from $25,000 to under $35,000; a $2,000 tax credit for senior households whose annual income is from $35,000 to under $45,000; and a $1,000 tax credit for senior households whose annual income is from $45,000 to under $55,000.

Fairfield's tax freeze option allows senior citizen households who do not have annual income exceeding $45,800 to have their local taxes frozen at their current level for five years. The tax increases associated with the five years the freeze is in effect do not have to be paid back.

The town of Westport does not offer a tax freeze option.

Fairfield's tax deferral option is open to senior citizen households who do not have annual income exceeding $71,800. Under this option, tax increases are deferred and must be paid back when the property is sold.

Westport's tax deferral program allows senior households to defer up to 100 percent of their taxes if their annual household income does not exceed $75,000, and it allows a deferral only in tax increases if their annual household income is from $75,000 to $100,000.

Westport's program also allows single veterans who have less than $57,300 in annual household income to take $20,000 off their property assessment and married veterans who have less than $64,500 in annual household income to take $20,000 off their property assessment.

Fairfield's RTM Senior Tax Relief Committee set the following dates for meetings: May 5, June 2, June 5 and July 15. With the exception of the June 5 meeting, which would be held at 10 a.m. at the Fairfield Senior Center, the other meetings will be held at 7:30 p.m. at a location to be determined.

In the past, officials said the town's tax relief program for senior citizens not only benefited seniors, but also benefited the town because seniors could stay in their homes longer and fewer families with young children would buy their homes and swell enrollment in an already-crowded public school system.