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| 2 | 2 | | FILED ON: 1/18/2024 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4262 |
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| 4 | 4 | | Substituted by the House, on motion of Mr. Walsh of Peabody, for a bill with the same title |
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| 5 | 5 | | (House, No. 2810) [Local Approval Received]. January 18, 2024. |
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| 6 | 6 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 7 | 7 | | _______________ |
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| 8 | 8 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 9 | 9 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 10 | 10 | | _______________ |
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| 11 | 11 | | An Act authorizing the town of Lincoln to establish a means tested senior citizen property tax |
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| 12 | 12 | | exemption program. |
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| 13 | 13 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 14 | 14 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 15 | 15 | | 1 SECTION 1. As used in this act, the following words shall, unless the context requires |
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| 16 | 16 | | 2otherwise, have the following meanings:- |
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| 17 | 17 | | 3 "Town", the town of Lincoln. |
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| 18 | 18 | | 4 "Parcel", a unit of real property as defined by the assessors of the town under the deed for |
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| 19 | 19 | | 5the property, including a condominium unit. |
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| 20 | 20 | | 6 "Income", taxpayer's total income, as defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (k) of section |
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| 21 | 21 | | 76 of chapter 62 of the General Laws, for the purpose of the circuit breaker income tax credit. |
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| 22 | 22 | | 8 SECTION 2. With respect to each qualifying parcel of real property classified as class |
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| 23 | 23 | | 9one, residential in the town there shall be an exemption from the property tax equal to the total |
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| 24 | 24 | | 10amount of tax that would otherwise be assessed without this exemption less the sum of: (i) 10 per |
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| 25 | 25 | | 11cent of income, or such other percentage of income as determined under section 4; and (ii) the 2 of 4 |
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| 26 | 26 | | 12circuit breaker income tax credit under subsection (k) of section 6 of chapter 62 of the General |
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| 27 | 27 | | 13Laws the applicant was eligible to receive in the year prior to the application being filed. In no |
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| 28 | 28 | | 14event shall property taxes be reduced by more than 50 per cent by this exemption. |
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| 29 | 29 | | 15 SECTION 3. The board of assessors may deny an application for an exemption pursuant |
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| 30 | 30 | | 16to this act if they find the applicant has excessive assets that place them outside of the intended |
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| 31 | 31 | | 17recipients of the senior exemption created by this act. Real property shall qualify for the |
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| 32 | 32 | | 18exemption under section 2 if all of the following criteria are met: |
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| 33 | 33 | | 19 (i) the real property is owned and occupied by a person whose prior year's income did |
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| 34 | 34 | | 20not exceed the income limit established in clause (i) of paragraph (3) of subsection (k) of section |
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| 35 | 35 | | 216 of chapter 62 of the General Laws and adjusted pursuant to paragraph (4) of said subsection (k) |
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| 36 | 36 | | 22of said section 6 of said chapter 62 for the prior year, whichever such income limit applied to the |
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| 37 | 37 | | 23individual's filing status; |
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| 38 | 38 | | 24 (ii) the real property is owned and occupied by a single applicant age 65 or older at the |
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| 39 | 39 | | 25close of the previous year or jointly by persons either of whom is age 65 or above at the close of |
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| 40 | 40 | | 26the previous year and if the joint applicant is 60 years of age, or older; |
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| 41 | 41 | | 27 (iii) the real property is owned and occupied by the applicant or joint applicants as their |
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| 42 | 42 | | 28domicile; |
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| 43 | 43 | | 29 (iv) the applicant or at least 1 of the joint applicants has been domiciled in the town for |
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| 44 | 44 | | 30at least 5 consecutive years before filing an application for the exemption; |
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| 45 | 45 | | 31 (v) the maximum assessed value of the domicile does not exceed the average value, plus |
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| 46 | 46 | | 3210 per cent, of all single-family dwelling units in the town; and 3 of 4 |
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| 47 | 47 | | 33 (vi) the board of assessors has approved the application. |
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| 48 | 48 | | 34 SECTION 4. The exemption under section 2 shall be in addition to any other exemption |
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| 49 | 49 | | 35allowable under the General Laws; provided, however that there shall be a dollar cap on all the |
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| 50 | 50 | | 36exemptions granted pursuant to this act equal to .5 per cent of the fiscal year's total property tax |
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| 51 | 51 | | 37levy for the town, including the levy for any regional high school if not included in the town's tax |
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| 52 | 52 | | 38levy at some subsequent date with the total exemption amount granted by this act allocated |
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| 53 | 53 | | 39proportionally within the tax levy of all residential taxpayers. After the first year of such |
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| 54 | 54 | | 40exemption, the total cap on the exemptions granted pursuant to this act shall be set annually by |
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| 55 | 55 | | 41the select board, within a range of .5 to 1 per cent of the residential property tax levy for the town |
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| 56 | 56 | | 42including the levy for any regional high school. In the event that benefits to the applicants may |
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| 57 | 57 | | 43be limited because the percentage established annually by the select board would otherwise be |
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| 58 | 58 | | 44exceeded, the benefits shall be allocated by raising the income percentage as required in section |
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| 59 | 59 | | 452 as necessary to not exceed the cap. In the event the cap exceeds the need for the exemption, |
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| 60 | 60 | | 46the total cap on the exemptions granted by this act shall be reduced to meet the need. |
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| 61 | 61 | | 47 SECTION 5. A person who seeks to qualify for the exemption under section 2 shall, |
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| 62 | 62 | | 48before the deadline established by the board of assessors, file an application, on a form to be |
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| 63 | 63 | | 49adopted by the board of assessors, with the supporting documentation of the applicant's income |
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| 64 | 64 | | 50and assets as described in the application. The application shall be filed each year for which the |
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| 65 | 65 | | 51applicant seeks the exemption. |
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| 66 | 66 | | 52 SECTION 6. No exemption shall be granted under this act until the department of |
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| 67 | 67 | | 53revenue certifies a residential tax rate for the applicable tax year where the total exemption |
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| 68 | 68 | | 54amount is raised by a burden shift within the residential tax levy. 4 of 4 |
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| 69 | 69 | | 55 SECTION 7. The exemption under this act shall expire 3 years after its acceptance |
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| 70 | 70 | | 56pursuant to section 8; provided, however, that the town may re-accept the exemption for |
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| 71 | 71 | | 57additional 3-year terms by a vote of town meeting. |
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| 72 | 72 | | 58 SECTION 8. Sections 1 to 7, inclusive, shall take effect upon acceptance by an |
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| 73 | 73 | | 59affirmative vote of the town meeting of the town convened subsequent to passage of this act, but |
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| 74 | 74 | | 60not otherwise. |
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| 75 | 75 | | 61 SECTION 9. Section 8 shall take effect upon passage of this act. |
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