The agenda and back up materials are available here 20190709-agenda & materials
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Posted in Select Board matters
I have special office hours at The Center tomorrow from 9:00 to 10:00 AM because I was scheduled for trail on the first Friday this month.
Residents are welcome to stop by to talk in person about any town matters.
Residents can also have coffee and see the Council on Aging in action (a vibrant organization with lots going on). Peterson can be reached via 508-359-9190 or his blog about Medfield matters <https://medfield02052.wordpress.com>/, where any schedule changes will be posted
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Posted in Select Board matters
This is the photo that failed to post when I emailed it from my phone to my blog yesterday., as I was attempting to gin up some interest for the brass band concert and more that the Medfield Cultural Alliance organized at Medfield State Hospital yesterday afternoon. There was this giant checkerboard and other events. Please know that it was a great, fun event, and look for their future placemaking events to come.
That failure to post the emailed photo is a new problem that I will need to figure out.
Below is the photo from the Shaw’s parking lot last Sunday that also failed to post when I emailed it to the blog –
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Posted in Uncategorized
I posted the agenda without the back up materials.
Here is the link to the Select Board’s back up materials for its meeting on June 18 – http://www.town.medfield.net/663/Agenda-Packets,
and the agenda is below:
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Posted in Select Board matters
At the select board meeting on 6/4/19, Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler distributed her draft calendar for the budget cycle for this coming year. This was music to my ears, as the sort of structure I have hoped to see for quite some time. I have inserted the calendar below and here via a link if you instead want a PDF – 20190604-Kristine Trierweiler-budget calendar
This is the sort of institutionalizing of a structure for the town government that we have been needing, so that all residents can understand how and when we make the sausages, and I am looking forward to more such protocols being implemented.
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Posted in Budgets, Financial, Select Board matters
The Peak House, one of the town’s and the country’s oldest houses is newly rejuvenated by the creation of the Peak House Heritage Center, a Medfield Foundation initiative. Their website is chock-a-block full of data, details, graphics, and information – in a word it is spectacular. It is also beautiful, fascinating, authoritative, and has an easy to navigate interface. Link to it here https://peakhouseheritagecenter.org/
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Posted in Events, History, Medfield Foundation, Peak House Heritage Center, Uncategorized
John Kelly’s Medfield Meadows went from being the Mega-B to being the most recent, welcomed Local Initiative Program (LIP), that gives the Town of Medfield another year of safe harbor from unfriendly 40B’s per the notice received this week from the Department of Housing and Community Development (copy attached below). Our affordable housing – Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) – #s have increased from about 4.5% when we finally woke up, to 8.29% today including Medfield Meadows. If the planned Rosebay on Pound Street and the Mayrock development at the Legion site are permitted, we will be very close to the 10% permanent protection threshold. However, those threshold numbers will adjust upwards based on the 2020 census’ number of housing units in town, so we will need even more SHI to stay fully protected.
Kudos to the Affordable Housing Trust for shepherding the town to a place of safety.
Posted in Affordable housing / 40B, State
Many towns are now providing some property taxes relief for seniors. I think Sudbury was the first to initiate doing so and got special legislation to allow the town to help its economically more needy seniors by shifting part of their taxes to the rest of the residents.
At the Massachusetts Selectmen Association meeting I attended Saturday I spoke with Jonathan, a Wakefield Select board member (it is a 7 member board), learned they are doing so too, and he got me information on their program from their Assessor (copy attached below).
First, below are my notes from when I spoke with the Sudbury Assessor and got its system. This is their PowerPoint from their town meeting: 2018 ATM Article 15 Senior Means Tested Exemption Presentation
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Telephone call to Cynthia Gerry, Assessor – assessors@sudbury.ma.us | (978) 639 – 3393
a. 2012 special legislation
b. Renewed a couple of times
c. In place through FY21
d. Senior means program
e. Linked to circuit breaker
f. Long time resident who qualify for circuit breaker can qualify for property tax relief
g. Well received
h. FY14 was first year
i. Average of about 110 applicants
j. Not funded by overlay, so residential exemption funded
k. Benefit cap was at 0.5% of total levy
l. The Board of Selectmen can increase it to 1%, but have not gone that high
m. $400K last year, about 0.5%
n. Pay about 10% of circuit breaker income plus 10% of circuit breaker income
o. Asset component to legislation, but vague and up to the board of assessors to use
i. No set limit
ii. Do get a financial statement
p. Deferral of RE taxes
i. Age 60
ii. Income matches circuit breaker ($86K)
iii. 2% rate
iv. Mortgage companies will not agree, as town becomes first lien holder
q. She will email me info
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Second, this is the email from the Assessor for Wakefield, who appears to also be the Asessor for Reading, describing his program –
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Hey Pete and Jonathan,
Yup, I did this in Reading and we’re going to do it in Wakefield. I can’t count the number of friends and colleagues that have reached out to me on this important topic.
Reading plan is simple:
Senior must receive the Senior Circuit Breaker Income Tax Credit. Pls see state guidelines.
Senior is 65 and co-applicant at least 60
Own and occupy home in the town for 10 years.
No other significant assets (tough to define as it’s one of those ‘I’l know it when I see it’ things, second home, etc)
In Reading, the benefit is anywhere from 50% to 200% of their CB credit.
Cost is shifted onto the Residential class of property
Wakefield is similar except that the credit is simply a 100% match. No disrespect intended but politics and taxes don’t mix
My models rely on receipt of the CB Credit. I did this because it’s already a state sponsored means test. Any changes like house value, assets, etc. would result in a local means test like a couple of towns have. I have about 650 people that receive the CB credit in each town. In Reading for FY 2018 195 applied and 183 were approved at 200% relief but, too much relief has an unintended consequence whereby some folks lost their CB credit the following year. FY 2019 Reading did 150% and 177 received it. I anticipate more folks being eligible for Fy 2020. Moreover, since it involves a shift in the tax rate, the application time is the month of August to allow me enough time for tax rate computation.
Hope this helps and feel free to email any further questions that you may have.
Best,
Victor