Public hearing to be held on Elderly and Disabled Tax Relief Program income level changes

By MIKE WILLIAMS

Patriot Publishing

The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at their meeting in December to hear comments from the public on a proposal to increase the income level for the county’s Elderly and Disabled Tax Relief Program.

The proposal was brought to the board Monday night by county Commissioner of the Revenue Kim Matthews, who noted in her presentation there has been only one adjustment to the income level for the program in 27 years.

The tax relief program offers elderly and disabled county citizens a reduction in their real estate tax, with the percent of reduction based upon their yearly household income.

Anyone interested in obtaining tax relief must apply with the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office.

Currently the most a household can earn each year to qualify for a tax reduction is $25,000.

Matthews is proposing that maximum be increased to $35,000.

Her proposal would establish a new scale of exemption percentage based on yearly household income.

Under the proposed new scale, a household with $0 to $20,750 in income would have 80 percent of their tax amount exempted.

A household with income between $20,751 to $25,000 would see 60 percent of their tax exempted.

A household with income between $25,001 to $29,750 would have 40 percent of their tax exempted.

And finally, a household with $29,751 to $35,000 in income would have 20 percent of their tax exempted.

Matthews noted that regardless of the change in income levels, the amount of exempted real estate tax for a household cannot exceed $300 – that’s according to Pulaski County code.

Using Census data, Matthews said Pulaski County’s population in 2022 was roughly 33,800.  Of that number, 6,194 people (18 percent) were disabled adults.  Another 7,631 (23 percent) were 65 or older.

She said there were 14,523 housing units in the county that year with 10,262 (71 percent) being owner-occupied.  There were 4,106 “aged’ owners (40 percent) and an estimated 1,848 (18 percent) disabled owners.

Matthews reported that in 2020, the year she became commissioner, the number of qualified applicants for tax relief totaled 318 households with the total amount of taxes exempted being $78,155.

Since that year, Matthews said, the number of qualified applicants has been declining to only 202 in 2024 with the total amount of tax exemption being just $50,184.

Using the number of elderly and disabled citizens, the five-year average of the amount of tax exempted ($255) and the county’s poverty rate of 13 percent, Matthews calculated that with the proposed income level changes in tax year 2025, the number of citizens applying for tax relief would increase to an estimated 775 qualified applicants with approximately $197,625 in tax owed being exempted.

“I know that sounds like a large amount,” Matthews told the board. “But that’s only one percent of our real estate tax revenue for 2024. It’s really not a huge number at all.”

Matthews said most of the tax relief applicants have Social Security as their primary source of income.

“So that Social Security income has been outpacing our income limit of $25,000 each year and the number of qualified applicants has been declining,” Matthews said.

Following Matthews’ presentation, Draper Supervisors Dirk Compton offered a motion that a public hearing be held at the board’s December meeting to gain comments and to consider an increase in the program maximum income of up to $35,000.

His motion was approved unanimously by the board.

Watch this newspaper for details on that public hearing.