Public Hearing Set for Elderly, Disabled and Veterans Tax Relief Proposal

Residents will have an opportunity to provide their input on to the elderly, disabled and veterans after the Town Council set a public hearing date for the proposed measure at their regularly scheduled meeting last night.

The hearing will be held on Nov. 1 at the immediately following the two public hearings scheduled before it at the center that same day.

The first of those hearings — one to consider an ordinance concerning interest owed on taxes for active duty military personnel and another to allow the East Haven Public Schools to go out to bid for a new copier system — is set to begin at 7 p.m.

There was no discussion among the council members regarding the tax relief proposal itself during last night's meeting.

According to the Mayor's Office, currently East Haven has two local tax options to ease the tax burden on its veterans, as well as its elderly and disabled residents.

The programs are sanctioned by the state, and towns and cities have the option to put them into use.

The Circuit Breaker is a state law that provides a property tax credit program for Connecticut owners in residence of real property, who are elderly (65 and over) or totally disabled, and whose annual incomes do not exceed certain limits.

The credit amount is calculated by the local assessor and applied by the tax collector to the applicant's real property tax bill. Currently the East Haven is providing that benefit to nearly 600 residents at the rate of $400 per household, according to the Mayor's Office.

The Veteran’s Property Tax Exemption is a similar program for those who have honorably served their country.

Generally, to be eligible for veterans’ property tax exemptions, a veteran must have been honorably discharged from service after having served at least 90 days of active-duty service in the U. S. Armed Forces during a statutorily defined time of war, unless he or she was separated earlier because of a Veterans’ Administration (VA)-rated service-connected disability or the war lasted for a shorter period and he served for the duration.

Veterans still in the service are eligible if they meet the 90-day requirement, as are veterans who retired after 30 years of service.

For World War II veterans, those with certain Merchant Marine service and military service with Allied armies also qualify.

A veteran’s spouse is ordinarily entitled to the property tax exemption for which the deceased veteran qualified.

A sole surviving parent and the minor child of a veteran who died while serving in the armed forces or after receiving an honorable discharge is also entitled to an exemption.

An exemption is a reduction in the property’s assessed value on which taxes are owed, not a credit against the amount of the tax. Exemption amounts depend on income, disability, and other factors.

The Town of East Haven has several hundred people engaged in this program and they are receiving an $8,000 credit on their property tax assessment, according to the Mayor's Office.