2006-03-29 - Laserfiche WebLink

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102 Responding to a question from Ms. Hamilton, Ms. Kelley said that the income limit for the City is $73,300 for a household of three or more persons. Mr. Caravati said there were discussions when the Housing Strategy was adopted about what low/moderate income is. Dr. Brown said the default position is to put aside one cent on the tax rate to begin the program, and he asked if Councilors want to set aside this amount or more or less. Mr. Caravati said he would go in the middle. He said there are actually four programs in the charter change. He said he thinks we would be lucky to meet the mid November deadline for an ordinance for all four programs. He said he would only support funding of $220,000 because it would likely only apply to half a year. Dr. Brown said the idea was to give the City a specific tool to help people who are truly in danger of losing their homes. He said he favors starting off with the amount proposed in the budget. He said after we get the administrative issues resolved, the program could be expanded after one year. Ms. Hamilton said she also favors starting with the amount included in the budget. Mr. O’Connell said this will affect the December tax bills so Council should make a decision about criteria in May or June. Mr. Lee Richards, Commissioner of Revenue, said that applications would need to be submitted by September. Mr. Schilling said he has a number of concerns about the program. He said that in talking with people, he feels that the $50,000 overhead is too high and is troublesome. He said there is also the issue of fairness since it would be first come first served. He also expressed concern about the impact on rental property. He said there is also a tax equity issue. He said there is also concern about personal tax information being on file with the City. He said he does not think the program is ready and he cannot support it this year. Ms. Hamilton asked about the rental property concern, and Mr. Schilling said people in duplexes would not be able to participate. Mr. Caravati said that the City can also offer rental relief. Mr. Lynch said if the program was expanded, the four cents proposed for a tax reduction could be put in this program which would amount to a 10 cent decrease this year for those eligible. He said we should also ask the General Assembly for authority to have a different tax rate for businesses and homeowners. Ms. Hamilton said she is interested in seeing the first year as a pilot with the current amount budgeted. Mr. Caravati said he is persuaded to stay at the $420,000 level. He said he thinks the administrative costs are reasonable. Large Item Pickup Regarding the large item pickup, Mr. Schilling said he brought up options at the last meeting and is interested in hearing answers from staff to his questions, including whether we could contract out the service at a savings and whether we could look at a modified version of the neighborhood schedule that used to occur. He said he would like to look at these options in order to bring down the cost. Mr. Lynch said if we went back to the neighborhood schedule we should make the service free, but if we keep it like it is he thinks we should keep the fee.