Staff outlines Good Landlord tax‑exemption proposal; Trust signals support to opt in with pilot guardrails
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Staff presented a draft Good Landlord property tax‑exemption design under the 2023 state law, recommending a $1,000/$1,500 tiered exemption by rental square footage, an occupant income cap at 120% AMI paired with an 80% AMI rent limit, and a 60‑exemption administrative cap as a pilot; board members requested flexibility and pilot language ahead of the select board warrant.
Staff briefed the Affordable Housing Trust on a draft Good Landlord tax‑exemption the town may opt into under state law passed in 2023. Dylan explained staff recommendations to simplify administration and limit fiscal exposure while testing the program.
Key staff recommendations presented to the Trust included: a tiered exemption amount of $1,000 for rented spaces of 500 square feet or less and $1,500 for spaces greater than 500 square feet; an occupant household income eligibility ceiling of 120% of area median income (AMI) paired with a rental‑rate restriction set at 80% AMI; no domiciliary (year‑round owner residency) requirement so seasonal owners could participate; allowance to stack the exemption with other existing property tax exemptions; and an initial administrative cap of 60 annual exemptions as a guardrail for first‑year fiscal impact modeling.
Board members probed several points: Penny Dye objected to setting an arbitrary cap of 60 and urged pilot language with an adjustable cap; others asked how partial‑property rentals (cottages, basement units) would be handled — staff said the exemption would be based on the square footage of the rented space. Christy (finance staff) clarified that recommended exemptions would be paid from an existing $6.5 million cash override allocation (not bonded funds) and urged the Trust to define success metrics (how many units the Trust expects to preserve) before finalizing numbers.
Dylan said staff will present a warrant article to the select board and that opt‑in does not require the public to approve program parameters — rather, town meeting must grant authority to opt in and staff expects to return with final details. The Trust indicated general support to ask the select board to place an opt‑in article on the warrant while continuing to refine pilot parameters in follow‑up staff work.