Publisher's summary
We reviewed 58 out of 765 (8 percent) agricultural, veterans and senior citizen exemptions, totaling $2.9 million, on properties with a total assessed value of $7.7 million. We found that 20 exemptions (34 percent), totaling $1.4 million, were not properly supported by adequate documentation to establish and/or maintain exemption eligibility. We reviewed 21 agricultural exemptions totaling $1.36 million on properties with assessed values of $3.6 million. Fourteen exemptions valued at $927,000 lacked one or more pieces of supporting documentation to verify eligibility. We also reviewed 22 veteran exemptions totaling $921,000 on properties with assessed values of approximately $2.5 million. Six exemptions totaling $480,000 lacked the required supporting documentation. Finally, we reviewed 15 senior citizen exemptions totaling $600,000 on properties with assessed values of $1.6 million and found that they were generally properly supported.
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Contents
Report Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Real Property Tax Exemptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Why Should Exemptions Be Properly Supported?. . . . . . . . . . . 2
Exemptions Were Not Properly Supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
What Do We Recommend? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Appendix A – Specific Exemption Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Appendix B – Response From Town Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Appendix C – OSC Comment on the Town’s Response. . . . . . . . . 8
Appendix D – Audit Methodology and Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Appendix E – Resources and Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11