Madison Senior Tax Relief Details Released

MADISON, CT — It’s been over a year in the making, but if town voters approve, Madison will soon have a senior tax relief program in place.

Both the Board of Finance and the Board of Selectmen have signed off on a plan that will go to Town Meeting for a vote on Thursday, Jan. 26.

The plan is something that has been a priority of First Selectman Tom Banisch since he was first elected to office in 2015.

Once elected, he named a committee to investigate a program to ease the property tax burdens for town seniors most in need.

Banisch said “the intent of the freeze program is to help the neediest seniors in Madison be able to stay in their homes. To that end, both income and property valuation are considered.”

The senior tax freeze committee appointed by the Board of Selectmen, once Banisch took office, was tasked with figuring out a way to give seniors a break and minimize the impact on residents.

Banisch said: “The committee that proposed the freeze ordinance said that, “Based on our suggestions the projected utilization of tax relief benefits would increase from the current 12 percent level to 18 percent and continue to assist a greater number of seniors going forward.”

The first selectman added: “The combined (all tax relief programs) cap shall not exceed 1 percent of the previous year’s total town and educational budgets. The Board of Finance shall review the percentage of the cap of the senior tax freeze program and shall set the dollar amount of the cap.”

Banisch added that based on last year’s budget, if the senior tax freeze program was in place, the cap would have been $772,720.

As to who will bear the additional payments that those who qualify for senior tax relief will be spared, Banisch said: “Everyone who pays taxes in Madison."

(calculated income values noted above are based on 2016 Median Income of $108,231 times the % for each tier)

Originally written by Jack Kramer, Patch Correspondent

(Editor's Note: We first published this story earlier in the week and here it is again in case you missed it)