Danbury ad hoc committee recommends new senior tax-relief ordinance, moves to sunset several older credits

The Danbury City ad hoc committee on tax relief voted to recommend a new ordinance, section 44-71, to the full City Council and approved recommended amendments that would sunset older local tax-relief programs and preserve ongoing benefits for current recipients.

The committee, led by Chair Ben, approved a motion to forward the new ordinance — described at the meeting as a consolidated tax-relief program for elderly and totally disabled homeowners — subject to a public hearing before the council. The committee also recommended adopting sunset provisions for the existing elderly tax credit (section 44-51), the tax freeze (44-53) and the energy tax credit (44-54), with language intended to allow beneficiaries who had already qualified under earlier grand lists to continue receiving benefits.

The tax assessor’s office presented budget and participation figures for the existing programs during the discussion. "This was an income-based program," said Donna Murphy of the tax assessor's office, summarizing the elderly credit; she reported that on the 2023 grand list the city had 810 applicants for the elderly credit and cited per-applicant amounts ("a single resident received $450, a married resident received $600"). For the energy credit, Murphy said the office recorded 945 applicants at a city cost of "$248,009.24." The assessor’s presentation also described the tax-freezes program cost last year ("565 people on the program at a cost of about $534,000").

Committee members debated procedural options for voting — whether to approve each ordinance separately or in a single motion — and ultimately approved a recommendation to send the amended 44-71 and the sunset provisions for 44-51, 44-53 and 44-54 to the council. Chair Ben called a voice vote and reported the motion carried; the record shows the committee approved the recommendation to forward the ordinances to the council for public hearing.

The proposed ordinance 44-71 would consolidate eligibility and documentation rules, tie local eligibility tiers to state OPM guidance with a local adjustment, and include a schedule of credit amounts to be applied to qualifying primary residences; staff said the assessor’s office will publish the annual OPM figures and the local schedule on the city website when available. The measures approved by the ad hoc committee are advisory recommendations; the full City Council must hold the public hearing and vote for any ordinance to take effect.

Next steps: the committee’s recommendations will be placed on the City Council agenda for public hearing and further action; the ad hoc committee record indicates the changes are being forwarded to the council as amended.