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By Tara Hughes Dec, 13, 2023
Phillip Beltz, Director of the Council on Aging, appeared before the Select Board on Monday night requesting an increase in both the income and assessed property value guidelines for the 2024 Senior Citizen Community Service Reimbursement Program administered by the Council on Aging. Both requests were approved unanimously by the Board.
The program allows seniors over 60 to work 125 hours a year within town dedicated sites such as in the schools, library or town hall to earn a property tax abatement of $1500 provided they meet certain adjusted gross income and owned property valuation guidelines. Fewer seniors have qualified to participate due to increased property tax assessments as well as increases in household gross income due to things like cost-of-living allowance (COLA) increases for Social Security.
In 2023, only ten residents completed the program and none of those existing participants would qualify in 2024 due to increased property assessment. The goal is to allow participants to continue in the program as well as encourage others to apply. Therefore, a request was made to increase both income and assessed property value guidelines for 2024. The requested income increase is to reflect the COLA increase in Social Security in December 2023 of 3.2%.
The income guidelines will go from a maximum adjusted gross income of $64,000 for a single senior and $97,000 for a couple in 2023 to $66,050 for a single senior and $100,105 for a couple in 2024. The assessed property value will increase from not to exceed $1,162,350 in 2023 to not to exceed $1,350,000 in 2024.
