The work-off program for property taxes will provide a break of $750.
HOLYOKE – The City Council has voted unanimously to increase a property tax break in a program for senior citizens to $750 from $500.
“This is something we pay for, but we feel this is something of great value to senior citizens, and we get a lot of work for the city” from seniors who volunteer, Councilor Kevin A. Jourdain, who proposed the measure, said Thursday.
The council Tuesday approved an increase in the Senior Tax Work-Off Program in which senior citizens who do 100 hours of work for the city get the property tax break.
About 25 to 30 seniors participate in the program each year by a lottery administered earlier in the calendar year by the Council on Aging. With 30 participants each getting $750, that would cost the city $22,500.
The volunteering has included clerical work at City Hall, watering plants, reading to children and shelving books at the Holyoke Public Library and carpentry and painting at Wistariahurst Museum.
Seniors cannot participate in the tax-break-volunteer program two years in a row, but can reapply after waiting a year.
“This is has been a tremendous program that has helped hundreds of Holyoke’s seniors over the last 10 years,” Jourdain said.
In October 2009, the City Council adopted an order from Jourdain that lets more senior citizens qualify for a property tax exemption, by lowering the eligibility age to 67 from 70.
Other changes included in that council vote affected income levels and asset totals to help more senior citizens qualify for the tax break.