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Meeting Minutes
Selectman’s Tax Deferral and Exemption Study Committee
A meeting of the Tax Deferral and Exemption Study Committee was called to order at 7:05 PM
on October 13, 2016 in Room 111, in Lexington Town Hall.
Members present were Vicki Blier, Pat Costello, Dick Bair and potential member Nicola Rinaldi.
Bob Pressman, 22 Locust Ave., an observer, also participated
The purpose of this first Committee meeting of 2016-2017 was to bring everyone up to date and
to review three documents: “FY2016 Property Tax Relief Programs”, “The Residential
Exemption” report by the Committee, dated October 2006, and “Sudbury Means Tested Senior
Exemption Report” dated March 19, 2015. The new FY2017 version of the “Property Tax Relief
Programs” and reports on MA Department of Revenue collected data for participation by
Lexington residents in various state tax deferral and exemption programs from 2014 and 2015
were distributed. A discussion of the contents of each document, plus the Commonwealth’s
senior Circuit Breaker Credit focused on the differing income and asset thresholds of the several
Tax Deferral and Exemption programs. The observer was invited to join the discussion and
provided valuable insights based on 44 years as a taxpaying resident of Lexington.
Much has changed in Town since the 2006 report on residential exemptions. The most useful
action for us now would be to provide the Selectmen with an update to “The Residential
Exemption” document of October 2006, based on new information about demographics and tax
expenditures in Lexington since 2006 before their 2017 Tax rate setting later in 2016. Our action
item from the meeting is to review the 2006 document and sections that need to be updated. At
the next meeting, we will identify additional data sources to explore, prioritize those work items
and make writing assignments with due dates to get the updated report prepared on time.
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 20, 2016 from 5:00 – 6:30 PM in Room 111, Lexington Town
Hall.
Respectively submitted on October 14, 2016,
Dick Bair
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