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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5082 FILED ON: 5/1/2024 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4615 |
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| 4 | 4 | | OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR |
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| 5 | 5 | | COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS |
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| 6 | 6 | | STATE HOUSE · BOSTON, MA 02133 |
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| 7 | 7 | | (617) 725-4000 |
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| 8 | 8 | | MAURA T. HEALEY |
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| 9 | 9 | | GOVERNOR |
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| 10 | 10 | | KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL |
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| 11 | 11 | | LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR |
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| 12 | 12 | | May 1, 2024 |
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| 13 | 13 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, |
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| 14 | 14 | | Pursuant to Article LVI, as amended by Article XC, Section 3 of the Amendments to the |
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| 15 | 15 | | Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am returning to you for amendment |
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| 16 | 16 | | House Bill 3911, “An Act authorizing the town of Lunenburg to establish a means tested senior |
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| 17 | 17 | | citizen property tax exemption.” |
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| 18 | 18 | | I am returning this bill for amendment due to an apparent scrivener’s error. In May 2023, |
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| 19 | 19 | | the Annual Town Meeting in the Town of Lunenburg voted to authorize the filing of a Home |
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| 20 | 20 | | Rule petition to establish a means-tested property tax exemption for certain senior citizens. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Before doing so, the Town Meeting considered how to allocate the cost of this new exemption. |
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| 22 | 22 | | In particular, the Town Meeting considered, but chose to reject, petition language that would |
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| 23 | 23 | | have allocated the cost of the new exemption to other residential taxpayers alone. Instead, the |
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| 24 | 24 | | Town Meeting voted to advance a petition calling for the exemption to be allocated |
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| 25 | 25 | | proportionally within the tax levy on all property taxpayers, regardless of classification. |
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| 26 | 26 | | Consistent with the intent of the Town Meeting, Section 3 of House Bill 3911 provides: |
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| 27 | 27 | | “The total amount exempted by this act shall be allocated proportionally within the tax levy on |
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| 28 | 28 | | all taxpayers and shall not exceed 1 per cent of the town-wide real property taxy levy.” |
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| 29 | 29 | | (Emphasis added). Section 5, however, provides: “No exemption shall be granted . . . until the |
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| 30 | 30 | | department of revenue certifies a residential tax rate for the applicable tax year where the total |
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| 31 | 31 | | exemption amount is raised by a burden shift within the residential tax levy.” (Emphasis added). |
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| 32 | 32 | | These two sections of the bill are in conflict; Section 3 requires that the exemption be allocated |
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| 33 | 33 | | to all property taxpayers but Section 5 requires it to be allocated to residential taxpayers alone. If |
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| 34 | 34 | | I signed the bill as is, this conflict would preclude the new means-tested property tax exemption |
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| 35 | 35 | | from going into effect. 2 of 2 |
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| 36 | 36 | | For these reasons, and to accomplish the intent of the Town Meeting, I recommend that |
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| 37 | 37 | | the bill be amended by striking out section 5 and inserting in place thereof the following section:- |
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| 38 | 38 | | Section 5. No exemption shall be granted under this act until the department of revenue |
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| 39 | 39 | | certifies a tax rate or rates for the applicable tax year where the total exemption amount is raised |
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| 40 | 40 | | by a burden shift within the tax levy on all taxpayers. |
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| 41 | 41 | | To correct a typographical error, I further recommend striking out, in line 19, the word |
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| 42 | 42 | | “Luneburg” and inserting place thereof:- “Lunenburg” |
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| 43 | 43 | | Respectfully submitted, |
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| 44 | 44 | | Maura T. Healey, |
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| 45 | 45 | | Governor |
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