All those old people are a problem...
Posted on 12/25/2007 10:53:22 AM PST by NormsRevenge
GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn't want to leave Greenburgh.
Greenburgh doesn't want her to leave, either.
The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.
"People shouldn't have to sell their house, move away to a place with less taxes, leave behind their family and friends," said Town Supervisor Paul Feiner.
He envisions retired doctors mentoring schoolchildren, retired accountants helping with the town's finances, retired lawyers offering their services for a discount. But there are plenty of less-skilled jobs that need doing, he said.
"It's not like we're going to see grandma running the snowplow," he said. "There are lots of things people can do for the town and it wouldn't cost us that much to pay them."
The proposal has caused a stir in Greenburgh, a town of 90,000 in Westchester County, which has the nation's third-highest homeowner property taxes. The plan would be unusual if not unique in New York, but similar programs are considered successes in Colorado, Massachusetts, South Carolina and elsewhere.
Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes — perhaps $2,000 to the town — and has already taken out a reverse mortgage to pay her bills.
Talking to Feiner last week at the town senior center, she said, "I would work as long as it was a job where I could sit."
"You could be a receptionist!" Feiner said. "You could greet people right here, when they come in."
"That I would love," Davison said.
Scott Parkin, spokesman for the National Council on Aging, said the program sounded interesting, as long as it wasn't limited to menial work. "It's certainly in line with what we stand for, keeping seniors involved in work or volunteering as a part of healthy aging," he said.
Boulder County, Colo., pioneered a tax workoff program in 1986 for residents over 60 and now has about 250 applicants for the fewer than 100 openings, said spokeswoman Barbara Halpin. The work done by the seniors includes landscaping, gathering climate data, clipping newspapers and staffing the courthouse information booth.
"Taxes aren't that high out here, so even at $7 an hour people can burn off their county taxes pretty quickly," Halpin said. She added that many stay in the program as volunteers after paying off their taxes.
In Concord, Mass., Maria Casey of the personnel department said about 10 seniors get $8.50 an hour to work at research, data entry and groundskeeping. The program, started in 1999, "allows seniors to be able to work and be involved in the community, and the town benefits by their work," she said.
Feiner is suggesting creating about 25 slots for seniors and letting them work off $500 or so a year. His proposal faces some obstacles. If the wages earned are to be tax-free and directly credited to the property tax bill, the state Legislature would have to approve. In addition, unions would have to be convinced that the program is no threat to their members' job security.
Feiner is hoping for at least a pilot program next year.
Eventually, he said, he would like to see the county and the local school districts adopt similar plans.
"If we got seniors working for the schools, there might be a more intergenerational feeling there," he said. "It might be easier to pass the school budgets."
Janet Goodman, a retired teacher and travel agent who was leading a knitting class at a Greenburgh community center, said paying the bills at her town house in Hartsdale, one of Greenburgh's seven villages, is "a constant struggle." She said she would gladly take part in a tax workoff program "as long as the work is interesting."
"You have to be creative," she said.
It means she is selling her house on the installment plan while the mortgagor has no expenses or responsibity to keep up any payments; the bank is gambling on the old lady kicking off soon.
maybe my math isn’t so hot but at $7/hour, she has to work a 35 hour week to cover the $12K property tax, and there was mention of another $2K to the Town?
The Town might consider a bifurcated tax structure. In our county, property tax for seniors’ primary residence is lower than for others. Considerably lower as I understand. The younger people don’t mind the property tax because it pays for what are considered ‘good schools’ of little use to seniors.
How about recinding all property taxes on Seniors that are having a hard time paying them? Forget that it’s to humane and generous and politicians don’t want that especially our friendly Left-Wing Liberals.
She can always write Hillary and Chuck. They are giving big breaks to the people with the subprime mortgages. Why not help out the old ladies?
So if you waive the taxes on a certain property...?
You might be at risk for eminent domain, I think.
Shouldn't that be against the law?
All those old people are a problem...
I’m sorry I didn’t die while I could still work. I didn’t plan on living this long I just did.
Would you like to come here and take care of the problem or should I have a friend deliver me to a place more convenient?
First property values have increased significantly during Ms Davison's lifetime. Second, she is 76 and raised a family according to the article, so she may be receiving her deceased husband's SS benefits. Finally, again, according to the article, the property taxes are among the highest in the state. Therefore, her taxes have escalated along with the property values. This is not atypical. As a result, many seniors are being forced out of their houses because they can't afford the taxes.
Everything is being considered but lowering taxes. What a surprise.
Sure, 76 and working as a groundskeeper. Now, that should be a goal to aspire to in your golden years. Once they past 80, they should be allowed indoors to be restroom attendants.
Got a hell of a deal for ya, Gramps. Put wheels on that walker, you are going back to work.
That's mighty white of you, Paul.
Indentured servitude.
Appalling and disgusting.
She’ll be dead at that point, so I’m sure she won’t mind greatly. Reverse mortgages are a good deal for older folks. Doesn’t get them out of taxes though, and $12k a year is pretty steep. $1200 would be reasonable.
Of course you shoud ad that is why you plan ahead and don’t rely on the govt to bail you out for not planning ahead. That is what saving is for.
And no matter how old you are, you use the same public facilities that anyone else does,,fire, police, roads, etc. And you pay your part of the national defense and schools, etc.
Could you please explain your reason for that statement? Answer promptly as us old people don't like to wait.
Semper Fi
An Old Man
And if you're seventy-six years old, after having lived in your own home for 40+ years, and after having paid it off a long time ago, where do you go from there and how do you get there? A homeless shelter, with nothing left in the world, to just wait and die?
Nice. I can't wait until you get taxed off your property when you're in your twilight years to see if you change your tune then. Good grief!
No, we are back to 1866 when landowners (farmers) typically paid their taxes with labor. Sometimes they’d work on the roads, or maybe drainage dishes.
Not bad for someone making $600 bucks a month eh!
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