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HomeMy WebLinkAbout097 - 01/04/1973 - ESTABLISHING A TAX REFUND PROGRAM FOR LOW INCOME ELDERLY RESIDENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CITY'S POR .s ORDINANCE NO 77 1972 BEING AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHINTA TAX REFUND PROGRAM FOR LOW INCOME ELDERLY RESIDENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CITY'S PORTION OF PROPERTY TAXES ASSESSED, SETTING FORTH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR QUALIFICATION FOR SUCH REFUND THE AMOUNT TO BE REFUNDED AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO ADOPT REGULATIONS, AND SETTING FORTH DETAILS IN RELATION THERETO WHEREAS, heretofore the City Council appointed the Coordinating Commission for Senior Citizens and WHEREAS such commission has made a study and has recommended to the Council that a program be instituted providing for the refund of the City s portion of property taxes to low income elderly residents of the City and WHEREAS the City Council has studied the report of the Coordinating Commission for Senior Citizens and is of the opinion that the property tax burden on residents of the City falls most heavily on low income elderly residents of the City and WHEREAS the City Council as a result of said study and investiga tion is of the opinion that members of such group should be given some relief from the tax burden by means of refunding to them the City's portion of the property taxes NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS Section 1 There is hereby enacted a Tax Refund Program to provide relief from property taxes for low income elderly residents of the City It is the purpose of this Tax Refund Program to refund to low income elderly residents of the City as defined in this ordinance the City's portion of property taxes for the preceding year which such persons have paid This program is intended to apply to both the owner of property who has paid such property taxes and to the lessee of property on which such tax has been paid Section 2 Refunds under this program shall be made to persons qualified for such refund upon written application therefor made to the Director of Finance of the City of Fort Collins on forms to be provided by the Director of Finance Such applications shall be made between August 1 and October 15 inclusive of each year for which a refund is to be made Section 3 In order to be entitled to a refund under this program the applicant for such refund must meet all of the following requirements A The applicant or his spouse if they live together must be 65 years of age or older by August 1 of the year in which the application is submitted No more than one application shall be submitted or acted upon in connection with any single property in the City B The applicant must be a resident of the City at the time of submitting the application and must have been a resident of the City during the preceding year when the property tax was assessed C The applicant must have paid property taxes assessed in the previous year on a dwelling which he owned and in which he lived or the applicant, in the alternative must have paid rent in the previous year when the taxes were assessed for the dwelling unit or portion thereof in which he lived D If the applicant was not a member of a household during the preceding year when the taxes were assessed his income for such year must have been no greater than $4 000 00, or if the applicant was a member of a household during the preced ing year when such taxes were assessed, the combined income of all members of the household must have been no greater than $4 500 00 for such preceding year Section 4 If the applicant meets the requirements of this or dinance the City shall refund to him an amount based upon the following A In the case of an owner of a dwelling unit that portion of the total property tax actually paid on the property which was levied by the City for the preceding year B In the case of a person renting property on which city property taxes were paid in the preceding year an amount equal to 1 44 per cent of the rental payments made by such apple cant during the preceding year C In the event an applicant owns his own dwelling unit 2 and pays taxes thereon for only a portion of a year, the refund shall be only for the pro rata amount of such city taxes represent nng the portion of such year during which the applicant owned his own dwelling unit and paid taxes thereon as compared to the entire such year D An applicant may be entitled to a refund based on the foregoing provisions for such qualifying dwelling unit in which he lived at different tunes during such year but in no event shall he be entitled to a refund representing more than one dwelling unit for a particular time period Section 5 The City of Fort Collins shall make tax refunds pur suant to this ordinance only directly to the applicant who qualifies therefor and refunds shall not be paid to anyone other than the applicant himself In the event an applicant dies prior to receiving or cashing a refund pur suant hereto, any check representing such refund shall be null and void and such refund shall not become an asset of the decedent's estate In the event however the decedent is survived by a spouse who would be quali fled as an applicant for such refund the City will honor an application for a refund by such surviving spouse even though the application is not timely made in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance Section 6 In construing this ordinance, the following words and i terms shall be deemed to have the following meanings A Household shall mean two or more persons related by blood or marriage living together under one roof Any person who i i pays property taxes or rent on a home or dwelling unit shall not be considered to be a part of any household other than his own B Income shall mean ad3usted gross income as shown on the Federal Income Tax Return for the applicant for the applicable year provided that if such applicant did not have sufficient income to require the filing of such return he shall be permitted to establish his income by affidavit showing that such return was not required because of low income 3 C Owned shall mean possessed of the legal incidents of ownership irrespective of whether the applicant's name appears on the recorded deed for the property Section 7 The director of Finance, with the approval of the City Manager shall have the power to formulate and promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this Tax Refund Program not inconsis tant with the provisions of this ordinance Section 8 It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent of the City Council that the several provisions of this ordinance shall be severable and if any part section, sub section sentence clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid such decision shall not affect the remaining portions of this ordinance and the City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each part, section, subsection, sentence clause and phrase hereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more parts sections subsections sentences clauses or phrases be declared invalid Section 9 All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict or inconsistant herewith are hereby repealed Introduced, considered favorably on first reading and ordered published this 14th day of December, A D 1972 and to be presented for final passage on the 4th day of January A D 1973 yor ATTEST az City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 4th day of January A D 1973 or ATTEST/ City Clerk 4