Seekonk Proposes Tax Break for Seniors

A continued discussion of tax breaks for senior citizen homeowners will be on the agenda for the August 12 Seekonk Select Board meeting.

The Board of Assessors presented a plan at the July 22 meeting. Their intention is to provide an exemption for anyone 65 years old and up.

“They can not generate the income that a young person can generate,” said Joyce Solomon, Vice-Chair for the Board of Assessors.

“They’re paying for all the schools, they don’t have any kids in school, they don’t have grandchildren in the school,” Solomon continued. “But they’re paying for it. And they’re scrounging and they’re working. An 86 year old woman is working behind the counter (at Stop and Shop) to make ends meet. What we currently have is an embarrassment. We can’t do this anymore. It has to be changed.”

Select Board member Robert Archambault believes the proposal is “aggressive.”

“I appreciate what you’re doing,” Archmabault told Solomon and Jan Parker, Clerk for the Board of Assessors. “I support this initiative. It’s just a little bit aggressive for me on the top tiers of what you’re doing.”

Chair Gary Sagar said if the exemption were to be implemented, it would create a $2.6 million budget shortfall for the town.

Solomon noted 1900 residents are 65 and older. She said the last time the town provided a tax exemption for seniors was in 2006.

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime explained there would be no effect on the town’s tax revenue.

“If it’s treated like any other exemption, then that would impact us, so that would come out of the overlay account,” Cadime said.