AUBURN, Maine — The City of Auburn has approved a plan to provide relief to older residents amid a rise in property tax.
On Monday, Auburn City Council voted 5-2 in favor of a plan to provide eligible seniors with $300 relief checks.
"It's significant relief for our longtime residents," Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque said.
Levesque said throughout the last several years, the city has seen home sales increase dramatically, and cause differential between taxed asset value and appraised value, which prompted a revaluation over the summer.
Levesque said this caused homeowners to see significant increases in their tax bills. He said many of the residents seeing large increases were older adults, often on fixed incomes.
In an effort to support those impacted, the city council approved a plan to use roughly $700,000 of American Rescue Plan Funds to fund the program.
"Specifically for our seniors, those above 65 that are extremely worried because their incomes have not adjusted for inflation," Levesque said.
"But we did not want to add to inflationary pressures either, so we wanted to make sure that we're cautious and deliberate in our approach, and that's why we focused this down to individuals that had a more than $300 increase in property taxes over the age of 65, because we knew they were the most vulnerable with the least amount of tools available in order to weather this," Levesque said.
In order to be eligible, you must quality for the Homestead Exemption Program, live in Auburn, can provide information to show your property taxes increased by more than $300 this year, and are 65 or older.
"It'll help me pay the next taxes. It's a good idea, I was very happy to see the city do this for us," Conrad Vaillancourt said. Vaillancourt said he's lived in Auburn for more than 50 years, and just saw his property taxes increase by $450.
"My taxes increased by $700 for the year," Jan Biron, who has lived in her Auburn home for more than 23 years said. "I actually got a second job so that I could afford to pay the higher oil prices and gas prices, and now my taxes have gone up. So this $300 that's going to be coming back is going to almost pay half of what my increase was, so it's really going to help a lot."
Levesque said eligible residents can begin applying in November.
"The goal is for this one form to be filled out and for you to have a check before your next installment of when your property taxes are due in March," Levesque said.