ORDER-2022-66 : An Order Relative to Property Tax Relief for Active Duty Members of the National Guard (Item # 9604)

Transcript (~6 min @ 28:26)

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▶ 28:23 Leila Migliorelli: Seeing none, we're now closed for public comment. Since we have members of the administration here tonight to speak before us, I would entertain a motion or no, actually, I'd like to motion by unanimous consent to suspend the rules before we proceed seeing no objection the rules are now suspended we have three items on our agenda tonight the first being order 2022-66 an order relative to property tax relief for active duty members of the National Guard this is sponsored by councillors McMaster and Karim Chedi would one of

▶ 28:55 Shawn M. MacMaster: you I'd like to speak on this order first thank you madam chair good evening I first want to thank consulate Carmen Chedi for partnering on this ordinance proposed ordinance with me I also like to acknowledge miss Phillips and miss McClellan for their work in advising us behind the scenes in order to get this matter before us this evening I don't want to be redundant and say anything that I don't need to say we heard what Colonel Driscoll had to say through the clerk of committees we heard from Jim thank you Jim for being here tonight this is really low-hanging fruit I think for us as a council in Melrose we are really leaders when it comes to what we do for our veterans and for those active members of the Armed Forces the mayor I know this is a priority of his is the military we've already taken a step as a council with the honor roll and working in partnership with the mayor to make needed improvements there I think when it comes to low-hanging fruit and things that we can do to give back to our servicemen and women whether it's in the National Guard or other branches of the armed forces that we should be doing that so i think the need is clearly there just as is some background and i know that miss mcclellan and miss phillips can answer any questions that may come up about this this is something that we had accepted this is a provision of state law that was first accepted in 2012. it expired this is something that has to be renewed every two years i would suggest that it expired probably because it just wasn't being tracked and i think as a council we've made an affirmative step to ensure that matters that do have expiration dates are being tracked we've changed our rules of order to have an expiry section so this is something that was on the books before it expired and from serving as a liaison to the veterans advisory board it was very much of interest to them that we get this back on the books in the form of an ordinance um teamed up with consular karma chedi who comes from a military family and again appreciate her support on this so there is precedent we had accepted this before i would say from a financial standpoint the impact here to the city's coffers is really negligible we're talking right now maybe in terms of those who would qualify less than a half dozen but frankly if it was a lot more than that um we would be filing this anyways uh so i will uh i will leave it at that and um if with your permission madam chair i think consulate carmen cheney may want

▶ 31:32 Manjula Karamcheti: to be heard yes and again i don't want to be redundant i think mr keene and our the letter that was read really represent all of the right reasons for why this is important to do um for our active duty members in the National Guard and our other veterans and those who serve. There is such a huge impact on the families who are home and the military who are serving and anything we can do to support those families I think is the right thing to do. For myself, having two family members who were reservists in the Navy and I was formerly the school counselor at hanscom air force base just really getting to know sort of all of the issues that impact families when it comes to finances and settling in after service having this kind of tax relief just really makes sense it's the right thing to do to help families get their feet on the ground again any little bit that we can do to help those who serve us and protect us just it's the right thing to do so thank you counselors um chief excel uh assessor mcclellan and um solicitor phillips would you like to come and speak on this or answer any questions that any

▶ 33:02 Speaker 7: of the counselors may have so i don't have anything specific to add but if i can answer any questions if you does anyone have any questions are there any questions from the committee

▶ 33:13 Speaker 7: no any questions from non-committee members seeing none what's the will of the committee

▶ 33:22 Speaker 8: i'd like to make a motion to approve i recommend a full council all right motion to uh approve to

▶ 33:27 Leila Migliorelli: recommend a full council made by councillor karen shady seconded by councillor stewart all in favor roll call right yep sorry um call the roll please vice chair

▶ 33:46 Speaker 6: from Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Cramshitty? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. And Chair Migliorelli? Yes.