SALISBURY — Residents unanimously approved a correction to the town’s property tax relief ordinance for eligible emergency volunteers at a town meeting Thursday, Oct. 15.
The ordinance, initially approved 142-1 at a Sept. 16 town meeting, provides a property tax abatement of up to $2,000 for eligible members of the Lakeville Hose Company and Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service. The revised version passed 35-0.
The correction became necessary after officials discovered that town attorney Tom Marrion had drafted the ordinance using state legislative guidelines that had not been updated to reflect a change in the law.
The revision changes the formula used to calculate the maximum amount of a volunteer’s real or personal property assessment eligible for an exemption. The original language set that amount at $1 million divided by the town’s mill rate; the corrected version uses $2 million.
At Salisbury’s mill rate of 11.0, the revised formula yields a maximum exemption of $181,818.18 in assessed value, equivalent to $2,000 in property taxes.
First Selectman Curtis Rand said the correction updates the ordinance’s language but makes no practical change to the benefit.
