ORDER-2019-39 : Accepting Clause 22H of Section 5 of Chapter 59 of the General Laws, as amended by Section 15 of Chapter 218 of the Acts of 2018

Transcript (~8 min @ 1:26:53)

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▶ 1:26:38 Francis X. Wright Jr.: okay thank you so much any other questions any other comments no we have a motion to place this item on file all in favor no where the item is placed on file item 4 on our agenda is order 2019-39 accepting clause 22 H of section 5 of chapter 59 of the general laws as amended by section 15 of chapter 218 of

▶ 1:27:11 Francis X. Wright Jr.: the X 2018 we have before us today in addition to the city solicitor the The assessor, Chief Assessor, Mr. Wilcock, Chris Wilcock, this is another item that was sponsored by me, and it relates to providing a real estate tax exemption to the parents or guardians of families of servicemen and women who are killed in the performance of

▶ 1:27:45 Speaker 1: their duty trying to scroll down to it here but I believe that's a summary of what it is we're under suspension of the rules if mr. Wilcox and mr. van camping can comment on it I'd appreciate it mr. Jim and just before mr. Wilcox speaks I just want to state for the board that this order has the full support of the mayor we obviously think that we should as much as we can recognize families whose loved ones make the ultimate sacrifice and mr. Wilcox will explain in a bit more detail what this actually does but the mayor just did want me to express this evening that she's in full support of this order so this exemption

▶ 1:28:27 Speaker 4: is for surviving parents or guardians of a service member that's killed in action the requirements are that they have to live in the Commonwealth for five consecutive years they have to be the owner of the home but the assessing department is in favor of this as a great exemption so we have your full

▶ 1:28:54 Francis X. Wright Jr.: support and I'm here to answer any questions about it if I may that's generally how I would term it to is killed in action but I believe it's killed during active duty suffered for an injury or illness documented by the Department of Veterans Affairs or missing in action with the presumption of finding death as a result of active duty correct when we take in the

▶ 1:29:16 Speaker 4: paperwork we actually have the veterans the VA actually define this for us and there there is a couple of different qualifications in here but ultimately they make the determination and we just take that as part of the application every time that someone applies for this thank you we have a motion on this order

▶ 1:29:43 Francis X. Wright Jr.: motion to recommend motion to recommend by Alderman Lemmerman second second by Alderman Medeiros discussion Alderman Lemmerman thank you just mr. Wilcox

▶ 1:29:51 Speaker 5: just one quick question so we do have certain exemptions or supports in place right now for service members who are injured right in the in the correct we

▶ 1:30:05 Speaker 4: have two classifications one's a minimum of a 10% disability and the other one is a hundred percent so from 10 to 99 is one exemption and then 100% is another

▶ 1:30:19 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: exemption correct thank you um you know i see this as a as a order in the same spirit um you know not only in the city um showing our our gratitude for the sacrifices that members of the armed forces have made um you know but also a recognition of how that can impact one's life um going forward and there's very real impacts for the families when someone's lost as well so if we're doing it for someone who had performed duties and was had is living with those impacts going forward i think it makes absolute perfect sense and is the right thing to do for us to do it for families of those who don't come home so again thank you to the maker of the order for this um and to the mayor's office for her support and um you know fully support this thank you thank you alderman

▶ 1:31:05 Francis X. Wright Jr.: lumberman any other questions or comments alderman Zwirko thank you mr chairman thank you for bringing

▶ 1:31:09 Michael P. Zwirko: this order forward i just had a question on the applicability so is is it going forward or is it retroactive i mean can it apply to let's say a vietnam vet who he or she gave their life and their parents are still here with us and as it just takes effect from the date of the passage

▶ 1:31:29 Speaker 4: of this how does it apply so as far as the tax year it would be from present going forward as far as the qualifications the department of revenue is still actually writing all the guidelines for this i believe this passed in august so all of the literature from dls is um is not updated with this yet so uh i don't mean to be vague but this is what i have um you don't have any guidance i don't have the specific guidance right now but i would assume it's mirrored with killed in action which would be a benefit that would be eligible for um the wife or or husband of the person killed in action so this is kind of for the parents the same thing so i would assume it would be this

▶ 1:32:08 Speaker 1: the same guidelines thank you and just to add to that alderman Zwirko uh the statute um indicates that the the time of death could be whenever um at the end of the day so if uh parents of a son who died in vietnam want to take advantage of this full exemption on their real estate tax i'm reading the statute to allow that to happen and it would apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1st 2019 so great Thank You mr. chairman those are all the

▶ 1:32:44 Monica C. Medeiros: questions I had thank you thank you and just clarify so that would be the exemption that we're offering are there any and that the city of Melrose would be covering in full are there any reimbursements for the state for this kind of benefit or is it just specific to Melrose the the current statute we

▶ 1:33:00 Speaker 4: have for the wife's or the the spouses of anyone killed in action are reimbursable by the state we fill out a form every year so assume that this would also qualify there but gateway which is the state's website has not been updated with this yet so I would assume it would mirror the the other

▶ 1:33:26 Monica C. Medeiros: killed in action clause and if and maybe you can speak to the killed in action or you know if somebody was missing in action and then was found would would the the parents need to regard me and need to repay that money or is there an

▶ 1:33:50 Monica C. Medeiros: assumption that we you know I'm not sure what the law says to that and if you

▶ 1:33:54 Speaker 1: could just I think the I mean that's obviously a complex rare situation I don't think anyone in the city of Melrose would seek to recover those payments particularly if there was a presumptive finding of death for that MIA individual I don't think the DOR has any guidance on that so I would I think it's safe to say there's probably no mechanism to recover nor right nor i think would we frankly

▶ 1:34:25 Monica C. Medeiros: want to be no expectation that that they should be concerned about if they take this correct and then be worried that correct the best thing in the world could happen that their child is found but

▶ 1:34:37 Francis X. Wright Jr.: correct yeah okay thank you thank you any other questions or comments seeing none we have before us a motion for x to recommend acceptance of this statute all in favor aye aye