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City prepares tax break for some seniors
The commission is set to vote on a homestead exemption that would help low-income seniors but not take effect until 2007.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published January 11, 2006
LARGO - Some of the city's low-income seniors could soon get a tax break.
City leaders have agreed to vote on an extra $15,000 homestead exemption for fixed-income seniors 65 or older.
An ordinance could come before the commission in February, but the city's exemption would not take effect until the 2007 tax year. City officials missed the Dec. 1 deadline set by the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's Office for the 2006 tax year.
To get the exemption, a property owner must qualify for a homestead exemption and have an annual income lower than $22,693.
The exemption could save seniors about $64. The maximum income threshold would be adjusted annually.
"I certainly think we ought to do it," said Commissioner Pat Gerard, who suggested the idea after learning that other cities in Pinellas had already adopted it.
Commissioner Gay Gentry said she felt "two-faced" giving exemptions to some who may not need it.
"I want seniors to have all of the breaks they can, but the law the state passed is flawed," she said.
She cited as an example the fact that some folks with higher incomes could also qualify for the exemption. That's because household income is calculated using the Internal Revenue Service's definition of adjusted gross income, which excludes tax-free pensions and other forms of nontaxable income.
The exemption could also benefit some younger residents because only one owner of a property must meet minimum age requirements.
In 1998, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that created an optional local property tax exemption of up to $25,000 for low-income seniors. Pinellas County and a dozen local municipalities have approved such exemptions, ranging from $10,000 to $25,000.
Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com
PLAN FOR THE DISPLACED
City commissioners will vote in February on a mobile home transition ordinance similar to the one Pinellas County approved in December for unincorporated areas of the county. The ordinance, which is tied to requests for land use changes, offers relocation assistance to residents who own their mobile homes but rent the lot beneath them.
[Last modified January 11, 2006, 00:41:19]
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