Q. What will Article 2 do if it gets all its approvals?
A. It will create a fund of about $330-350,000.
Q. How will it do that?
A. It will increase everyone’s property taxes by one-half of one per-cent. If your tax bill would have been $10,000 it will be $10,050.
Q. Where does the money go?
A. It will reduce the property taxes on needy Senior Citizen.
Q. How many of them are there?
A. About 250, maybe 300.
Q. How do we know which are needy?
A. According to the new census data, there are 1,188 families in Sudbury with one or more people 65 or older; there are 1,243 individuals collecting Social Security and there are a total of 2,031 individuals age 65 or older, 1,254 of them over 75. The needy ones are those whose income would make them qualify for the State Circuit-breaker Credit.
Q. Again, who are they?
A. Their income is no more than $51,000 if single, $77,000 for a couple. In 2008 (latest available) there were 204 who claimed the credit, and we think that if Article 2 passes the total who will qualify will be closer to 250.
Q. So, about 20% of the Senior Families in Town will qualify? What about the rest?
A. They’ll pay the extra 0.5% just like the rest of the taxpayers.
Q. That’s it?
A. No, in order to qualify you have to meet a lot of criteria; you have to be over 65, you have to have lived in Town for 10 years, and your house can’t be too expensive. There may be an “asset test” to be sure you don’t have a hidden nest-egg.
Q. Then What?
A. Then, the Assessors compare your taxes to your income. The goal is to make sure your taxes aren’t more than 10% of your income.
Q. Isn’t that what the State Circuit-breaker is supposed to do?
A. Yes, and in many town it may do it, but our taxes are so high that for a lot of people that doesn’t do it.
Q. So what does Article 2 do?
A. It does a calculation, like this simple example:
House assessed at $350,000, taxes are about $6,000
Income is $30,000, so tax shouldn’t exceed 3,000
Extra tax burden is $3,000
Taxpayer earns Circuit-breaker of about $1,000
Taxes still exceed 10% of income by $2,000
That $2,000 is the amount that qualifies for the Article 2 exemption
Q. So the property tax is reduced by $2,000, to a total of $3,000?
A. Maybe, remember, there’s a $330,000 fund that was created. The assessors add up all the claims, like this one. If they total less than $330,000 the taxpayer will get a $2,000 exemption. But that isn’t likely.
Q. What is likely?
A. It’s likely that the claims will exceed the amount available, and so the funds will be distributed according to a very fair formula.
Q. That’s it? What has to happen to make this possible?
A. First, this Town Meeting has to approve. Then it goes to the legislature.
Q. Isn’t that a death-knell? I heard they don’t pass anything like this.
A. Not any more. We’re doing this because this year the Town of Hamilton passed an article very much like this one, and it has now become law. This article is based on the Hamilton article, which is one reason it’s so complicated. This Q&A is a very simplified version. We believe the legislature will approve, if it passes Town Meeting and the Town officials support it when it is heard by the Legislature.
Q. And then?
A. The Governor has to sign it, and send it back to Sudbury. Then we have to have an election and the voters have to approve it.
Q. And then?
A. That’s it. It will take about two years. Then the assessors will prepare forms and Senior Taxpayers can apply for the exemption.
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