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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-12-14-REPSC-min Residential Exemption Policy Study Committee (Ad hoc) Friday, Dec 14, 2018 Hudson Room, Cary Memorial Building Minutes Attendance Mark Andersen (chair), Vicki Blier, Sara Bothwell Allen (acting secretary), Howard Cloth, Katie Cutler, Thomas Whelan, John Zhao, Joe Pato (Selectmen liaison, attended only the start of the meeting) Resident observer: Robert Pressman Mr. Andersen called the meeting to order at 8:03AM. Ms. Bothwell Allen agreed to serve as acting secretary. Public Comment Period Mr. Pato and Mr. Pressman both thanked the Committee for their work to date and how well the public hearing went. Mr. Pato then left to attend another meeting. Mr. Pressman shared that Bob Creech, at a public hearing of the Planning Board, said he been following home sales, including several international investment purchases of houses in Lexington, which are then being rented out. Mr. Andersen drew our attention to some emails we have received from members of the public, that he has responded to those requesting information he can easily provide, but that one requires a longer response. Mr. Cloth offered to respond to that email. Approval of minutes The Committee approved, with minor edits, the minutes from the November 16 and 30, 2018 meetings. The Committee approved, with some edits and additions, the notes from the December 11, 2018 Public Hearing. Public Hearing Feedback Ms. Bothwell Allen said a continuing problem is characterizing who we are trying to help. Mr. Cloth said the town needs to consider the real versus just apparent (e.g. "The town is doing what it can.")impacts. Mr. Cloth feels the town ought to do 3 things: 1. Implement the State's Residential Exemption (SRE), 2. Craft a senior Means Tested(MIRE) on top of SIZE with careful formulation to avoid the pitfalls described by the Concord Assessor, and 3. Lexington should consider what it can do to make tax deferral more accessible and promoted—that some action must be taken because of future large capital projects coming. Ms. Blier asked whether we need to show (in our final report)what the impacts of implementing both SIZE and MTRE together would be. Mr. Zhao said our final report needs to include a section summarizing the benefits and downsides of the tax deferral program and impacts on people who fall just above the thresholds for MTBE. Mr. Whelan said the Board of Selectmen has to have a lot of courage to pass a SRE that will affect everyone. He thinks the SIZE at 10% is the way to go because it will affect the most people, and that it would be hard to combine SRE and MTRE, which no other town currently does. No choice is going to benefit everyone, there is always a population that will be left out. Ms. Cutler feels promotion of tax deferral is the number one thing that has to happen and that Town Meeting would be more likely to support MTRE over SRE. Mr. Andersen reflected on testimony from Sam Silverman at the Public Hearing and feels the 80yrs+ population should be the focal beneficiary group for policy action. He would like to consider a MTRE approach that has 2 age-stages, an approach that does not currently exist in other communities. In a 2-stage approach, for the older age category, income or other thresholds could be relaxed (or removed) or benefits increased. Mr. Zhao reminded us there will be a Council on Aging survey in the spring. Ms. Cutler said people in their 90s often make choices to stay in home or move decade(s) prior. Final Report Progress Ms. Blier led the Committee through the outline. The Committee discussed points of clarification and terminology on various sections. Ms. Cutler left at 9:30AM, Mr. Cloth left at 9:37AM. Mr. Zhao, Ms. Blier, and Mr. Whelan will correspond before the next Committee meeting to make sure they are using the most current data on Lexington residents for projecting impacts of Means Tested implementation. Next Meetings Upcoming meeting should principally focus on moving forward with the Final Report and presenting to the Board of Selectmen. The next meeting will include a writing workshop on draft sections of the report. Next meeting: December 21, 8:OOAM. Possible future meetings: December 28 and January 4. Meeting adjourned at 9:41 AM. Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Sara Bothwell Allen, acting secretary.