Key Takeaways: Board of Assessors (BOA) Meeting, April 3

The Select Board requested suggestions from the BOA for ways to ease the tax burden when the Residential Tax Exemption (RTE) was voted down.

Clause 41A is not an exemption which discharges a tax obligation but it permits an elderly taxpayer to postpone payment (defer) property taxes. When the house is sold or the owner dies, the deferral is paid back with interest. No one in Stockbridge has ever used it.

The conditions include that the recipient is a primary resident (as do all tax exemptions, abatements, and deferrals) and is a senior whose income does not exceed an amount. The Board of Assessors could vote to recommend three changes: the amount of deferral (currently $500), the amount of income allowed to qualify (currently $20,000) and the amount of interest charged on repayment (currently 8%).

The BOA voted to recommend the following changes:

Amount of deferral from $500 to $1000

Amount of allowable income from $20,000 to the "circuit breaker" (set by state, not the municipality, the current circuit breaker is $64,000 adjusted annually)

Amount of interest paid is currently 8% reduced to 5%

Photo: Blue Moon Images/Dana Goedewaagen