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Springfield To Offer Property Tax Work-Off

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     With the tax bill for the average single family home in Springfield, Massachusetts going up next year by $165, some homeowners will be looking for ways to reduce their bill. 

      The Springfield City Council voted last month to lower the tax rate on residential property by 15 cents. Even so, it is expected that most tax bills will go up. About 20 percent of homeowners will see their annual tax obligation to the city increase by at least $250.

      Rising property values are the reason tax bills will be going up, according to the city’s chief assessor Richard Allen.

    "We've seen a tremendous improvement in the single-family, two- and three-family categories with  selling prices above $200,000 commonplace these days in certain single-family neighborhoods," Allen told councilors last month.  " Those (sales) numbers dwarf what happened in other recent years."

     The average single family home valuation in Springfield is $161,000 – an increase of almost $10,000 over last year.

      Is it possible to challenge the city’s assessed valuation, which if successful would lower the tax bill.    Owners of property who believe the assessed value on it has been set too high have until February 3, 2020 to file an application with evidence to back up their assertion.

   Another way to lower a property tax bill is to qualify for an exemption.  Homeowners age 70 and older can get either $174 or $500 taken off their annual tax bill depending on their incomes and assets.  Veterans and homeowners who are legally blind can also get exemptions under state law.

    In Springfield, there are currently about 1,200 households that receive a property tax exemption, according to Allen.

   "We are totaling about $600,000-$700,000 annually in funds devoted to covering those exemptions," said Allen.

    Starting next year, Springfield will offer a tax work-off program for a limited number of senior citizens who meet income limits and are willing to do some clerical tasks or other light duty work for the city for a few hours a week.

    Sponsored by City Councilor Orlando Ramos, the City Council approved the program last month.

    "With the amount of economic development we have in the city, it is about time we give the taxpayers a break," said Ramos.

    To receive a $1,000 exemption on their property tax bill, program participants must work 75 hours in a three-month period.

    The program will be limited to 20 participants, who will be selected annually by a lottery.

         Applications for the senior tax-work off program in Springfield are expected to be available this April.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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