HAMPTON — The Board of Selectmen will put forth a warrant article in March to raise the current elderly exemption and make it easier for those residents in town to qualify.
The board voted last week to recommend the article to voters after receiving input from community leaders to do so. The proposed elderly exemptions from property taxes, based on assessed value, for qualified taxpayers, are:
Increases the exemption for residents age 65 to 75 from a property worth $82,000 to a property worth to $120,000.
Increases the exemption for residents age 75 to 80 from $115,000 to $150,000.
Increases the exemption for residents age 80 or older from $147,000 to $165,000.
In order to qualify, a person must be a New Hampshire resident for five years and own the real estate individually or jointly and meet certain income and net asset requirements.
The article requests changes to the minimum income and net assets a resident can have to allow more residents to qualify for the elderly exemption.
Currently, a single resident can make no more than $30,000 to be eligible, and married residents, along with spouses, can make no more than $50,000. The proposed changes would amend those numbers to $35,000 for singles and $58,000 for married couples.
The article also recommends changing the minimum net assets a resident can have to $200,000. Currently, single residents cannot have more than $95,000 worth of assets while married couples cannot have more than $145,000.
Selectmen began looking at rasing the elderly exemption after hearing from numerous residents about the recent revaluation in town, which saw their property assessment and tax bills skyrocket. Several residents at Hampton Beach said they were afraid they would no longer be able to afford to live in their homes.
They already put the town on notice that they were not happy on Dec. 3, when they held their own version of “Boston Tea Party” and threw tea bags over the Hampton harbor Bridge.
Whether all voters will support the article will be determined in March. When elderly exemptions are granted the burden of those taxes must be shifted to another group — those under 65. Officials are still working out details regarding the fiscal impact the warrant article will have on the town.