Michael Orazine of Rindge is one of about 100 people in town who make use of a tax exemption offered to elderly residents. It has allowed Orazine and his wife to continue living in their modest home, now that he’s retired.
Orazine is one of several beneficiaries of the exemption who have been watching and waiting this year, to see if their benefits might change, as a designated committee in town is reviewing Rindge’s elderly exemption after an attempt to make it stricter this past March.
Rindge, like many New Hampshire towns, offers a tax exemption on a portion of the home value for residents over 65. The exact specifications vary from town to town. In Rindge, individuals with an annual income of $35,000, or $49,000 for couples, qualify.
For those who qualify, the town reduces their taxed assessed value by $100,000 until the age of 74, $140,000 until age 79 and $200,000 for those over 80.
In addition to the income limits, to qualify, a resident’s assets – not including a home – can’t exceed $150,000, and he or she must have lived in the state for at least three years.
For Orazine, who has lived in town 10 years, the exemption has become part of his retirement planning, and allowed him to plan to stay in his home.
This year, however, resident Roberta Oeser, who at the time was a member of the Select Board, raised the question of whether the exemption was too permissive – and perhaps even attracting seniors to the area for the specific purpose of getting it.
During January’s deliberative session, Oeser, the original champion of the warrant article, spoke in favor of a warrant article that would have lowered the income minimum needed to qualify for the exemption – dropping it to $25,000 for individuals or $35,000 for couples, and limiting assets to $75,000 per person or $100,000 for a couple.
At the town’s deliberative session in January, however, voters hesitated to put those proposed changes on the ballot, and ultimately, the warrant was amended to create a committee to study the issue and put recommendations forth to the Select Board for 2022.
Oeser, who became a member of the committee to study the town’s tax exemptions, maintained in a recent committee meeting that Rindge’s exemption is too permissive, particularly when compared to the benefits offered in the rest of the state.
In 2020, Rindge offered $248,000 in tax exemptions. Oeser pointed out that in the same year, capital expenditures approved were about $279,000.
Rindge is out of step with its neighbors on this issue, Oeser argued. Indeed, Rindge is the among the most-permissive among Monadnock-area towns in what it allows residents to earn, the amount of assets they hold and the amount that they can exempt when it comes to their elderly tax exemption.
Locally, Peterborough is the most closely aligned with Rindge’s standards – elderly residents can exempt between $80,000 and $160,000 from their assessment, based on age, and income limits are roughly equivalent to Rindge’s – $34,000 for a single person or $52,000 for a married couple. Peterborough, however, only allows $100,000 in assets besides the home, where Rindge allows $150,000.
Oeser’s original proposal puts Rindge closer to the remainder of the region, which generally offers to exempt between $20,000 and $80,000 of the assessed value, and has income limits ranging between $13,000 and $35,000 for a single person.
Orazine argued that coming out of a pandemic, and facing a continually climbing cost of living, isn’t the time to lessen support some residents may be counting on.
“It seems a big shame,” Orazine said. “Taking care of the elderly and disabled should be a point of pride. With the current state of the economy, it’s the worst possible time be to having a conversation like this. You’re going to be putting people in a bind.”
A retired electronics technician, Orazine said his $100,000 exemption is a “big deal” for his finances, and may be the difference between continuing to live in his home and making the decision to downsize.
“Younger people have to look at it this way – I hate to say it, but we all do get old,” Orazine said. “You may eventually be in the same boat.”
Despite several months of meetings on the issue, the committee formed to continue discussion on the elderly tax rate has made little progress on a set amount to recommend to the Select Board.
During a meeting of the board in October, Dan Whitney, who chairs the committee, met with the board to present the committee recommendations, but those recommendations didn’t include a bottom line for changes. Instead, the current recommendation of the committee is that the town review its current slate of exemptions and ensure that they all meet the current standards.
“The committee did not have a specific recommendation,” said Select Board Chair Karl Pruter. “Their suggestion had to do with better enforcement of the existing standards.”
During a meeting of the committee this October, when the group finalized its recommendations, members questioned whether all those getting the exemptions fully qualified under the state and town rules. Some, for example, may have land that should be counted towards their assets, but isn’t currently.
Oeser herself said in reviewing her own application, she discovered that there were adjustments needed.
Others may not have refiled their annual application, as required.
Any change in the standards of the elderly tax exemption must be approved at Town Meeting through a warrant article.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.