10-24-05 Regular Meeting of Fiscal Affairs Committee Minutes

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• • Green, Shannon From: Alexander, Cynthia Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 3:20 PM To: Green, Shannon Subject: FW: Lake Dallas: council member seeks bigger tax break for seniors For audit committee Original Message Sent: Saturday, October 08, 200511:07 AM Subject: Lake Dallas: council member seeks bigger tax break for seniors Council member seeks bigger tax break for Lake Dallas seniors By Marcia Rios Lake Cities Sun Writer Discussed by federal, state and local governments for the past 107 years has been the topic of increased property tax relief for elderly homeowners. Lake Dallas City Council members recently brought up the issue once again. Currently, Lake Dallas offers a flat deduction of X10,000 off the amount of property tax assessed. Council member Richard Martin stated it was his interest in increasing the deduction to X30, 000. "The city manager and I have gone over the numbers and we feel strongly we could do the ,$20,000 credit, but what we would really like to do is the $30,000 credit if at all possible,"Martin said. Currently senior citizens see a reduction in property taxes of approximately $71 on the average priced home in the city. With the $20,000 credit, seniors would see a $142 property tax savings and $210 saved at the $30,000 credit level. "Some type of property-tax relief is available to elderly homeowners in every state of our country, and I think that is wonderful. One of the things I said when I ran for office was I wanted to address this issue and try to do more for the elderly,"Martin said. "Well, I think we started the process a little too late into the budgeting process this year, but with the work that has been done with (city manager) Mr. Berner, I believe we will be able to act on this next year,"Martin said. Historically state and local government officials have considered and approved many