The window for eligible seniors in Windham to receive help with property tax assistance will close on Dec. 27 and amended provisions for the program allow more elderly residents than in previous years to apply.
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| To encourage more participation, Windham Town Councilors have extended the deadline for filing applications for the Senior Property Tax Assistance program to Dec. 27 and dropped eligibility residency requirements from 10 years to five years. FILE PHOTO |
Councilors say extending the deadline for applications to Dec. 27 potentially ensures that more seniors benefit from the program, particularly those who previously didn’t apply due to the stricter residency timeline.
Windham’s Senior Property Tax Assistance Program awards a maximum property tax refund of up to $700 depending upon your property tax bill and your overall annual household income.
Eligible participants must file an application and meet other requirements including that they be at least age 65 when applying; have owned or rented a home in Windham that they have lived in for an entire year prior to the time of application; lived in Windham for at least five years; paid property taxes in Windham in 2023 and 2024 or rented in Windham for at least a year; have an annual household income less than $63,750; or are 100 percent disabled with Social Security Administration document verification.
At the Nov. 26 meeting, Tibbetts told the council that last year, the town approved a total of 276 households for the Senior Property Tax Assistance Program and reducing the residency time is expected to add at least 25 more applicants.
“This is trying to be fair to give them the opportunity to apply,” Tibbetts said.
Previous applications filed earlier this year that did not qualify because the senior applicants did not meet the 10-year residency requirement have been retained and will now be reconsidered under the amended 5-year residency reduction.
Tibbetts said a total of four senior applicants will be reconsidered who have lived in town for at least five years but did not meet the previous 10-year residency requirement.
According to Tibbetts, Windham Town Councilors Bill Reiner and Nick Kalogerakis advocated for the council to slash the residency requirement to five years to help senior town residents struggling to pay property taxes on fixed incomes.
“It makes a lot of sense to do that,” Tibbetts said.
Reiner said moving forward he would like to see the residency requirement for the program further dropped to one year.
“I think the residency requirement to file a Homestead Exemption is one year,” Kalogerakis said. “For the Senior Tax Assistance Program, I’ll take the lowest residency we can get, but I’d like to see it set at one year.”
Under the rules for filing for a Homestead Tax Exemption in Windham, the existing residency requirement in Windham is one year. This allows homeowners whose principal residence is in Maine a reduction in valuation, adjusted by the town's certified assessment ratio.
The maximum reduction in Windham for 2024 under the Homestead Tax Exemption is $25,000 off the assessed valuation of your property.
Property tax bills in Windham are collected twice a year with the first installment due on the first business day in October and the second installment due on the first business day in April.
To file an application for a property tax reduction under Windham’s Senior Property Tax Assistance Program, call Tammy Hodgman at 207-892-1907 or send an email to thodgman@windhammaine.us
More details about the program are available at https://www.windhammaine.us/616/Senior-Property-Tax-Assistance <
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