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AS THE REASSESSMENT process continues in Luzerne County, special consideration should be given to low-income homeowners who might be especially hard hit by tax increases in 2009 and beyond.
That’s particularly true of older residents, some of whom might be questioning whether they can even afford to live in the place long considered “home.”
County officials wisely have decided to investigate whether some people – whose annual household incomes hover at $35,000 or below – might be able to defer any reassessment property tax increases until the property is sold or passed to heirs. This sounds like a reasonable and sensitive solution, and one that should have been checked into well before this month – as reassessment letters trickle into more area mailboxes and, in some cases, trigger alarm.
If found to be within the law, a deferral program here could be offered by any or all taxing bodies: school, county and local.
Eligible property owners would continue to pay their existing tax amounts, rather than the new, higher figures. However, liens equal to the amount of deferred tax would be placed against the properties and the money paid when those properties ultimately changed hands.
If a deferral program is to be successful, area school districts must participate, since school taxes typically make up two-thirds of a property tax bill.
Regardless of what happens with this proposal, Luzerne County’s long-overdue reassessment can be used as a chance for many children with elderly parents living here to discuss finances – a sometimes secretive subject within families.
Does Dad receive enough income to pay higher tax bills? If not, how was he planning to keep up with yearly home maintenance and repairs, or have those things already been put off for too long?
Is Mom living in the best place, or might downsizing to a smaller, better-insulated house make economic sense?
Is it time for adult children to begin chipping in for their parents’ living expenses; or, on the flip side, had parents previously decided not to keep up a home’s appearance, opting instead to squirrel away as much cash as possible for their inheritors?
These are tough and often emotion-packed issues with which to grapple. Better to talk about them now, however, than wait until faced with a foreclosure, sheriff’s sale or other unpleasant reality.