In an effort to offset rising costs for Trumbull Seniors, Town Councilmen John Rotondo D-3 and Marybeth Thornton D-2 contacted the First Selectman over 1 year ago to co-sponsor the expansion. Through a combined Democratic initiative they worked to improve and expand the Senior Citizen and Disabled Persons Tax Relief (a.k.a Senior Tax Relief) program. These changes permit the program to be more inclusive and dynamic enabling more Seniors to join and benefit from the current program.
Under the new proposals, Seniors earning up to $58K could potentially qualify, furthermore, the tax credits would be increased by up to an additional $235 and through a new self adjusting bracket system, Seniors would potentially not lose any benefits.
The following represents highlights under the new proposal:
1) The income qualification limit would be increased from $50,000 to $58,000, allowing more Seniors to qualify for any one of the three programs: Tax Credit, Tax Deferral or Tax Freeze.
2) The sliding scale for the “Tax Credit” benefits would be increased in each bracket, therefore, Seniors could receive up to an additional $235 in benefits depending on their income bracket (maximum tax benefit credit increased from $1250 to $1350). See tables at Tax Assessor’s office for actual amounts.
3) The income qualification limit ($58K) will adjust each year automatically to account for the Social Security cost of living increase. This could prevent Seniors from losing tax credit benefits or getting bumped completely out of the program as their social security income increases due to inflationary causes.
If you have any questions please feel free to email Town Councilman John Rotondo at RotondoTC3@aol.com or contact the Trumbull Tax Assessor’s Office at 203-452-5016. Enrollment for the Senior Tax Relief program starts February 1st, through May 15th, 2008.