Coventry council reviews senior, veteran and disability tax exemptions after audit; no changes voted

Coventry Town Council members and town staff spent more than an hour Wednesday discussing proposed revisions to the town's tax-exemption ordinances after last year's audit flagged ambiguous language and administrative gaps.

The council's president, President Lima, began the public portion of the discussion by telling residents, "Nobody is taking away anyone's senior tax freeze." Town Manager Perillo and tax-office staff described draft ordinance changes intended to tighten administration and reduce potential fraud, waste or abuse, but no ordinance amendments were adopted and no votes were taken.

Council and staff said the discussion is intended to clarify the ordinance so the tax-assessor's office can administer exemptions consistently. Manager Perillo said the changes under consideration "would give [assessor and finance] more teeth" to manage the program and flagged that adopting some proposal elements could cost the town money in the first year while the new rules "catch up." Carrie, speaking for the tax office, explained procedural limits in the office and said large numbers of applications create administrative burden.

Public commenters expressed concern about possible prospective changes. Britney Boyer, a Coventry resident, said the freeze helps seniors and disabled residents with fixed incomes and urged the council to preserve access for those "who truly need it." Longtime resident Scott Guthrie and others urged caution, warning changes could force long-term residents from their homes. Several commenters asked the council to allow public review of specific proposed ordinance language before any final action.

Staff and council provided several factual clarifications during the discussion. Carrie said the town currently has 3,225 exemption accounts on the roll and that the town has doubled the number of freeze accounts since 2019. She said roughly 12% of property-tax revenue currently derives from accounts that are frozen and about 24% of residential accounts are on the freeze. The tax-office process requires applications by Jan. 31 for the next tax year and the ordinance requires applicants be age 65 by Dec. 31 to qualify for the senior freeze.

Staff also clarified two technical points in the current ordinance that have driven confusion: the $8,000 provision is an $8,000 assessment credit (not an $8,000 tax credit) and a provision limiting the freeze to the first two acres of a property has not been historically enforced. Carrie said the $8,000 assessment credit produced a tax-benefit on the order of about $126 last year, not a direct $8,000 reduction in taxes.

Council members discussed next steps. Several members, including Councilperson Capaldi, urged deliberate review, additional fiscal modeling and at least two readings for any ordinance changes. Manager Perillo asked for council direction on whether to continue accepting new exemption applications while changes are developed; no formal direction or vote was recorded. Staff said they had been advising applicants to wait for the next application cycle under the office's normal process and highlighted that hundreds of people apply each year, which strains a small tax office.

The council also discussed separately-proposed adjustments to veterans' and disability-related exemptions. Staff said current veteran exemptions provide a modest benefit (about $142 last year for the veterans credit as currently structured) and that the draft proposals would increase those benefits; council members said they were generally sympathetic but wanted fiscal estimates and additional options before deciding.

The council did not schedule or take a final vote on any ordinance amendments at the meeting. Manager Perillo and tax-office staff said they would return with fiscal estimates, sample ordinance language and implementation options for further council consideration.

Council members closed the item by asking staff to assemble comparative data, ballpark fiscal impacts and draft ordinance text for a later meeting so residents could review proposed changes before the council proceeded to first reading.

The council then moved on to other business.