HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-28-28-TDES-min RECEIVED
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TOWN CLERK
Minutes of the Selectmen's Tax Deferral and Exemption Study Committee LEXINGTON MA
February 28, 2007
4:15 pm at Town Offices
Attending:
Vicki Blier, Chair
Norm Cohen, Selectmen liason
Pat Costello
Joel Adler
Tom Taylor
John Bartenstein, Appropriation liason
The first Wednesday of each month at 4:15 pm was selected as the permanent meeting time.
Discussion of a water and sewer rate discount program proceeded with reports of how other
communities operated.
BELMONT -Pat
Their program is called LifeLine Support and offers a discount which in 2006 was:
LifeLine Regular
Customer Usage Charge (Qtrly) 11.00 14.52
Water rate (hfc) 1.75 4.20
Sewer 5.91 7.92
Everyone who qualifies for exemptions under 17D (elderly person over 70), 18 (hardship), and
41C (elderly over 65) automatically gets the discount.
NEWTON - Vicki
A 30% discount is given to those who apply by a certain date. To be entitled to the discount you
must meet the requirements of 41A (deferral). It is not necessary to take the deferral if you take
the discount. Newton has around 23,000 water accounts and 767 households take the discount.
Since 4 1 A requires proof of primary residency for ten years, you have the problems of
determining whether trust ownership meets the requirement of the statute. Since Newton has its
own legal department and a larger assessors staff than Lexington, examining trusts and making
the necessary decisions is not the burden it would to Lexington.
WOBURN - Joel
Woburn gives a discount to those who qualify under 17D, 41 C or 18. Woburn has a flat rate
water and sewer charge which is $468 annually. The annual discount is $229. Woburn has
10,198 residential water accounts and 434 receive the discount.
There was general agreement that the Lexington program should be tied to qualification under
another program to minimize the administrative burder on the Water Dept. There was discussion
of whether the discount should be larger than the current 30%. John pointed out that water is not
as significant an expense as taxes for most people and that for a small family water is already
subsidized because of the first tier below cost rate. The real problem at the moment is awareness
of the availability of the discount. We wondered if it is legal to insert a notice with the water bill,
or even have something printed on the water bill. No one had a clear answer.
There was a general consensus at the end of the meeting that the best solution is to continue to
peg the discount to the Fuel Assistance Program since it takes into account the larger families
who bear the burden of the higher tiers water pricing while the senior exemption and deferral
programs limit relief only to elders who, because of their generally lower water usage, already
benefit from below-cost first tier pricing.
Norm said that the Selectmen will want our input on Article 23 of the Warrant filed by Ben
Cohen. This article asks the Selectmen to file a home rule petition to amend 41A (deferral)to
raise the income limit and lower the age limit. It was decided to invite Ben to the next meeting to
explain what he has in mind.
Next meeting: March 7 at 4:15 pm at the Senior Center.
Submitted by Tom Taylor 3/2/07