Town of Wendell, Massachusetts

If you are a Wendell resident and property owner who is over 70 with limited assets and income, there are two exemptions offered by the Town of Wendell which might benefit your situation. An exemption is a reduction of property tax for the fiscal year.
 
A 17-D exemption is for a reduction of $175 from your taxes. The age requirement for this exemption is that you must have reached age 70 by July 1, 2008 for a FY09 exemption.   There are no income restrictions, however, your total assets cannot exceed $40,000, excluding house. There are no income restrictions for this exemption. You must also have owned and occupied for at least five years.
 
A 41-C exemption is for a $500 reduction of your total tax liability. The age requirement is the same as for the 17-D. To qualify for the 41-C your total assets, excluding house, cannot exceed $28,000 (if single) or $30,000 (if married) and income cannot exceed $13,000 (if single) or $15,000 (if married). Social Security income up to $6237 (married) is excluded from total income. You must also have lived in Massachusetts for the last 10 years and owned and occupied for the last five years.
 
Exemptions do require documentation and assessors may ask you for your federal or state tax returns and bank statements, birth certificate, etc., to verify your application  All financial information is confidential and never released to parties outside the assessors’ office.
 
Applications may be obtained from our office during normal office hours. Any application for 2009 must be received no later than December 3rd of this year.
 

Why did I get a Personal Property form ("Form of List")?

Owners of unincorporated businesses in Massachusetts must report their business equipment and stock-in-trade annually to their local boards of assessors.

Similarly, owners of "second" homes must report furnishings and equipment at that home.

In recent years it has become apparent that certain Wendell businesses and second-home owners have reported responsibly, while others seem to have forgotten. To be fair to those who do report, and, in fact, to all Wendell taxpayers, the board of assessors has found it necessary to be proactive in this matter.

To help ensure that this "personal property" (as it is called) is assessed fairly, we have taken the extra step of mailing out Forms of List this year. If you have received a form, it is because the assessors have reason to believe that you may have taxable property used in a business (State Tax Form 2) and/or furnishings and equipment at a second home (State Tax Form 2HF). Those reasons include current deeds, information from the Town Clerk (d.b.a.'s), the advertising of goods or services on the internet and elsewhere, and other apparent indications.

Reporting your taxable property by returning Forms of List to the assessors is the best way to ensure that our values are correct. An exhaustively detailed list is not necessary, just a straightforward general description and your honest estimate of value, i.e., what you would expect to realize on an open-market sale.

The forms you return are not public records.

The FY08 tax rate was set at $17.02 per thousand.

The town voted to move to a preliminary tax bill system starting this year. The first bill of 50% (estimated) went out in October. The second (finalized) bill should go out in as soon as this years triennial revaluation is completed.

In May 2008 Todd Soucy was elected to a three year term to replace Carolyn Huslander.

As of December 2008 the Assessors Office was operating within budget.

During 2008, the Board:

- Held 41 scheduled meetings

- Reviewed 80 requests for abatement or exemption of tax

Granted:

  22 real estate abatements

  1 personal property tax abatement

  38 motor vehicle excise tax abatements

  9 property tax exemptions

Denied:

   4 motor vehicle excise tax abatements

   6 real estate tax abatements

- Attended one appellate tax board hearing

NOTE: The board would like to remind all those who have annual tax exemption or chapter land application requests (elderly, veterans, Chapter 61, etc.) that it is important that you mark your calendar and get the paperwork in on time each and every year (annual or 10 years for Chapter 61 etc.) if you are planning to continue to request these exemptions.

The board can’t approve an exemption or application for you if the application isn’t postmarked or in hand by the deadline each year.

Thanks.

Respectfully submitted,

Wendell Board of Assessors