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TR-2011-44 MGL CH 59 SECT 5 CLAUSE 54 71 TR-2011- A RESOLUTION ADOPTING MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL LAW CHAPTER 59,SECTION 5, CLAUSE 54 (SPONSORED BY: MAYOR RICHARD A. COHEN) WHEREAS, Massachusetts General Law 59, Section 5,Clause 54 (M.G.L.c. 59,§5 cl. 54) provides that a City may adopt a personal property tax exemption by adopting M.G.L. c. 59, §5 cl. 54). WHEREAS, Massachusetts General Law 59, Section 5,Clause 54 is subject to local acceptance;and WHEREAS,the current minimum taxable personal property exemption is$500 of the fair cash value; and WHEREAS, in order to help small businesses remain viable within the Town of Agawam an higher exemption amount should be established; and WHEREAS,Adopting the provision will lower the number of accounts and will reduce the cost o*taC' 0 Cl) collection without loss of tax revenue; and r 4r WHEREAS, Adopting the provision will reduce the cost of sending out bills as well as reduce the costy collections for small accounts; and WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the Town of Agawam to accept Massachusetts General Law 59,cr Section 5,Clause 54 and change the minimum taxable personal property from the current$500 fair cash.- value threshold to a minimum value of$10,000.00. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE AGAWAM TOWN COUNCIL that Massachusetts General Law 59,Section 5, Clause 54 is hereby accepted and that the minimum exemption of$10,000.00 on personal property subject to taxation is established to be effective July 1, 2012. DATED THIS -kAY OF 2011. _L4 PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL it ad CkdId M. Rhea It, President APPROVED AS FORM AND LEGALITY -Tn Vincent F.Gioscia,City Solicitor MAYOPAL ACTION Received this day of am". ' 2011 fi7om Council Clerk. Signed by Council President this day ofaox&i, 2011. APPROVAL OF LEGISLATION B y the powers vested in me pursuant to Arti cl e 3, Secti on 3-6 of the Aga harter, as en ed, I ereby approve the passage of the above legislation on tl day of , 2011. Riceez- U ardA./Cohen. Mayor DISAPPROVAL OF LEGISLATION By the powers vested in me pursuant to Article 3, Section 3-6 of the Agawam Charter, as amended, I hereby veto the passage of the above legislation on this day of 2011 for the following reason(s): Richard A. Cohen, Mayor RETURN OF LEGISLATION TO COUNCIL CLERK Returned to Council Clerk this day o 2011. REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Minutes dated September 6, 2011 President Rheault — Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the City Council meeting. Item 1. Citizen's Speak Tim President Rheault — We have a few speakers wishing to address the Council this evening,the first being Marc Katsoulis. "'th Marc Katsoulis — Good evening. I noticed that thefe s an item n' e Agenda tonight that has to do with the tax rate so the reason I'm here h to do wi -i 'tax rate. I didn't know that my timing was gonna be so good but I'm not a 66,kwart of this presentation. You folks on the City Council Ov"e'%alot of 4sponsi ities an&one of them is protecting the taxpayers of Agawam. About, wiihin t1f6 last,month, thef� was an item in the Springfield Republican that Westfield's elecli6n included one race for School _\N ,,% Committee, one person, and that wa§,,it. o Westfield d&ided to petition the legislature NMN to waive the preliminary election and t6 have,\gerything dpcide&at the general election on November 8"'. Well, it got me thi%-�ki%n\%g:-%,�l,\\\","A'!Ngawam has drie race, no races for City Council, a lot of people are running buN'tno ra-le�;e�ks,\��\%��'tn'o,,,preliminary, no preliminary for School Committee and we'-,have one race f&.M�yor. �n here tonight to propose that, J\, -w are we okay, I feel like I'm aching again where ti�e students are paying attention, Me t k on trac 'and tha doesn,t count in my five minutes, Don, okay? anyway, to get badit%_. X� ,!s th'ALI'm proposifig- that Agawam waive their preliminary Anyway, the bottom line- election and petition the legi�L w\ 'f ide�i ield's preliminary's in September. Our's is in Octob&,'okay�?, ,%kltlow the�bottom lin6 dn this is there's pro's and con's to it, I told it to a frieff of min said, you re anti-democracy but my answer to that is this — we %\\% 1'9'Le . hava'%%'& I - . *11 Mpre-liminary electift t e e.o-'p- le run, we eliminate one of the three. Why can't we haveXthe same three7r'%un inZe general election and eliminate two? The most important paq.9f what Fm�p ing to bring across tonight, I've heard George Bitzas a million times s%;the taxpayers of Agawam" okay, well tonight I'm gonna steal his thunder as another,Greek*,by the way, the taxpayers of Agawam, you deal with millions �\,M,I�.,��1, of dollars of budgetg,' ,,Mid tonight is a great example of what we're gonna hear tonight, I I :�. okay? And what in proposing is gonna save a little, little teeny bit and I have a reliable source tonight who told me it's about $8,000.00, okay? I think we should waive the preliminary election because the only people that are gonna benefit from it are the candidates who are gonna find out where they're strong and where they're weak but who's gonna pay for it? The taxpayers, okay? So here's my closing and I'm saying this politely and humbly—somebody has to carry the ball, it can't be me, I'm just Joe Citizen, it can't be anybody running for the office, okay? So we're down to the City Council and Richard Theroux, the Town Clerk. Now I noticed on your Agenda, there's an Item number 12 that says "other things that may legally come before the Council". You don't meet again for two weeks. I've already been told tonight that it might be too late. Richie may have already gone to the printer and so forth but I'm telling you this is $8,000.00 and I think the City Council should vote on this tonight, okay, and if I'm told that they can't, then one of you out of eleven, are there eleven here, ten tonight, one of you should say Marc I agree with you. I'm an elected official. I'm gonna go talk to Mr. Theroux and let's do it, okay? If we don't do it, I sound very threatening and I don't mean to sound threatening, if we don't do it, I'm gonna come to Citizen's Speak Out after the preliminary election and I'm gonna ask how much did it cost the taxpayers of Agawam, okay? Thanks, thanks a lot. President Rheault-Thank you. Kevin Baldini? Kevin Baldini-Kevin Baldini, 32 Park Avenue, South Hadley, Town Assessor. I'm just here to speak in favor of the Mass. General Law Chapt 5 , -Section 5, Clause 54 - the change in the minimum business personal property tax om $500,00 to $10,000,00. 1 think it makes sense. I think it would be a good shdVintihe arm for'sm I businesses. I AM think it will create a business-friendly atmosplide in the Town of Agawam and also ky .!Z�ft create the conditions for more business groMh which"would help at som0point, to -�% \5N. �Ssw -y �ch sa. - probably defray residential taxes. So that's pretf .,. mu �dll I have to , I think it y� makes sense. Thank you and I'll be here to answel any questions if you discuss the matter. President Rheault-Thank you. Laurel Placzek? X% ^N11%X 114 avor. Dale Mazanec? I'm sorry, I missed that last 4. � bt\ President Rheault - bink. you, n am-(-;:."N�1%,Q\>\, Dale Mazan'ec,- That's good, thank you, you're very close. My name is Dale Mazanec M1 and I'm here Wr presen0the West of the River Chamber of Commerce. I work for United Bank w0c'1fi'-\-�x1fi'J'as;�a':1*'couple of offices in Agawam. West of the River Chamber of Commerce representsawo hundred businesses and we're here speaking on, regarding the TR-2011-44, the Clfdpter 59, Section 5, Clause 54. We are also in support and in favor of changing the minimum value from $500 to S10,000- I have been lucky enough to attend many of the ribbon cuttings and I'm impressed with the energy that is in Agawam for businesses, small businesses, they've got a great facility and resource in the Agawam Small Business Assistance Center and I think this increase from $500 to $10,000 will help small businesses in Agawam, help to bring more small business in Agawam and help those that are here to remain healthy. This is a difficult time, the recession has been long and deep and we need to do things locally to help our local businesses survive and get through to better times. I think that this type of thing is the kind of thing that we need to do to strengthen the economic base and create some energy and maintain that energy actually that I see here and help us to make Agawam a place where small businesses are eager to come to and look to for a place to relocate. Thank you for your time. President Rheault—Thank you. Our final speaker is Jason Freeman. Jason Freeman — Good evening folks. I'm Jason Freeman, President of Six Flags New England, 1623 Main Street an'd I'm also here tonight representing West of the River Chamber of Commerce as a member. We also support the business property tax evaluation change. We think that going from $500 to $10000 minimum for taxable personal property will definitely identify Agawam as a progressit-Nqwn and we support that and wish that you will do as well. Thank you. President Rheault—Thank you Jason. OKI- ,C) W-4 CD C= C01) C� INFORMATIONAL SHEET M.G.L Chapter 59, Section 5, Clause 54 Minimum Valuation on Business Personal Property CD The Assessors' Office, with the approval of the Mayor, is requesting that the City Council vote to change the minimum taxable personal property account from the current $500 fair cash value threshold to a minimum value of$10,000 or less. Changingthis minimum value would help out small businesses in town that in many cases are struggling to keep their doors open. This change would also reduce the current number of accounts from 819 to about 200, with the majority of these minimally valued accounts either sole proprietors (Mom and Pop businesses), or small corporate entities. The 200 accounts over $10,000 that would remain represent approximately 98.3% of the $105 million worth of taxable Personal Property in town, while 619 small accounts represent 1.7%of the total value of the class. The benefits to raising the minimum taxable account to $10,000 or less are as follows: Help small businesses in town remain viable entities Lowering the number of accounts will reduce the cost of data collection without the loss of tax revenue, as the minimal tax that these accounts represent is spread out over the $2.7 billion dollars of other taxable property in the Town of Agawam. There is no recourse for uncollected taxes on personal property. Unlike real estate, there is no provision in the tax laws for the placement of a lien on an unpaid personal property account. Reduce the cost of sending out bills for only 200 accounts as opposed to 819 accounts, as well as reduce the cost of collection for those small accounts. With the above in mind, the Assessor's Office is requesting that the City Council vote to approve the change in the minimum taxable personal property account from $500 in valuation to $10,000 or less for Fiscal Year 2013. TR-2011-q4 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL LAW CHAPTER 59,SECTION 5, CLAUSE 54 (SPONSORED BY: MAYOR RICHARD A. COHEN) WHEREAS, Massachusetts General Law 59,Section 5,Clause 54 (M.G.L. c. 59, §5 cl. 54) provides that a City may adopt a personal property tax exemption by adopting M.G.L. c. 59, §5 cl. 54). WHEREAS, Massachusetts General Law 59, Section 5,Clause 54 is subject to local acceptance;and WHEREAS,the current minimum taxable personal property exemption is$500 of the fair cash value; and WHEREAS, In order to help small businesses remain viable within the Town of Agawam an higher exemption amount should be established; and WHEREAS, Adopting the provision will lower the number of accounts and will reduce the cost of data collection without loss of tax revenue; and WHEREAS,Adopting the provision will reduce the cost of sending out bills as well as reduce the cost of collections for small accounts; and WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the Town of Agawam to accept Massachusetts General Law 59, Section 5,Clause 54 and change the minimum taxable personal property from the current$500 fair cash value threshold to a minimum value of$10,000.00. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE AGAWAM TOWN COUNCIL that Massachusetts General Law 59, Section 5, Clause 54 is hereby accepted and that the minimum exemption of$10,000.00 on personal property subject to taxation is established to be effective July 1,2012. DATED THIS DAY OF 2011. PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Donald M. Rhea It, President APPROVED AS FORM AND LEGALITY JEn co � r— 4. Ql -0 Vincent F. Gioscia, City Solicitor > Z M - A-) NJ INFORMATIONAL SHEET M.G.L Chapter 59, Section 5, Clause 54 Minimum Valuation on Business Personal Property The Assessors' Office, with the approval of the Mayor, is requesting that the City Council vote to change the minimum taxable personal property account from the current $500 fair cash value threshold to a minimum value of$10,000 or less. Changingthis minimum value would help out small businesses in town that in many cases are struggling to keep their doors open. This change would also reduce the current number of accounts from 819 to about 200, with the majority of these minimally valued accounts either sole proprietors (Mom and Pop businesses), or small corporate entities. The 200 accounts over$10,000 that would remain represent approximately 98.3% of the $105 million worth of taxable Personal Property in town, while 619 small accounts represent 1.7%of the total value of the class. The benefits to raising the minimum taxable account to $10,000 or less are as follows: Help small businesses in town remain viable entities Lowering the number of accounts will reduce the cost of data collection without the loss of tax revenue, as the minimal tax that these accounts represent is spread out over the $2.7 billion dollars of other taxable property in the Town of Agawam. There is no recourse for uncollected taxes on personal property. Unne real estate,there is no provision in the tax laws for the placement of a lien on an unpaid personal property account. Reduce the cost of sending out bills for only 200 accounts as opposed to 819 accounts, as well as reduce the cost of collection for those small accounts. With the above in mind, the Assessor's Office is requesting that the City Council vote to approve the change in the minimum taxable personal property account from $500 in valuation to $10,000 or less for Fiscal Year 2012.