The Mattapoisett Finance Committee put its finishing touches on the Special Town Meeting warrant during their October 14 meeting focusing on Article 2 and Article 15. Principal Assessor Kathleen Costello was in attendance for the discussion.
First up for discussion was Article 2: Interest Reduction on Senior Deferred Taxes. At a previous meeting, Costello asked the committee to considering reducing the interest rate from 8% to some lesser number. After researching what other cities and towns in the area are using as a number, she asked FinCom to change the rate to 4%. She said that presently there are only two residents who are in a deferred status and that the change would equate to a loss of only $157 per year. She felt strongly that senior citizens be allowed this option while noting that most “hate” the idea of deferring taxes, which automatically allows the town to place a lien on their property. Those that do opt to defer property taxes were not doing so lightly, she explained.
“Younger people have many years to recover (financially) from doing this (using one of the other deferral programs available), but older people do not,” Costello said when a member suggested seniors were getting something that unemployed younger people could not have. Presently, the Town’s tax deferral programs include military service personnel on active duty, sewer betterments, and some qualifying health considerations. FinCom moved to ask voters to reduce the interest rate from 8% to 4%.
Article 15: Authority To Negotiate Pilot Agreement deals with the issue of how to impose levies on alternative energy enterprises such as solar farms. The acronym ‘Pilot’ stands for ‘Payment in lieu of taxes.’ Calling it a “good way to protect the town,” Costello asked FinCom to approve her request to “authorize the Board of Assessors pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 59 … to enter into agreements with solar power generation companies, for the purpose of having a payment in lieu of taxes agreement relative to the valuation and assessment of property and improvements in the property…”
Adoption of this article would allow Costello’s office to negotiate a flat annual fee for lands used in solar production via a binding contract for the length of the land rental agreement. In this way, she explained, the Town would be guaranteed payment(s) regardless of who the owner/operator of the solar production might be in the future. This received positive approval from the committee.
Now that FY14 has closed, Town Administrator Michael Gagne shared a working balance sheet that shows the Town will have an estimated $1.7 million in local receipts once the state certifies the records. This number is slightly ahead of estimated receipts that were pegged around $1.4 million.
With this work now behind them, Mattapoisett’s FinCom will begin scoping out the 2015 budget on November 19 at 6:00 pm.
By Marilou Newell
