A proposal to provide senior citizens in Newtown with tax abatements appears to be back on the agenda of the Legislative Council after several weeks of inactivity on the issue. The council’s ordinance subcommittee is determined to craft rules governing tax abatements for the elderly in time for them to go in effect when tax bills go out in July. The subcommittee members will have before them two proposals. One would extend tax relief to all of Newtown’s 2,000 senior citizens, at an estimated cost to the town of $3.3 million. The other would limit tax breaks to those who need them the most.

While it is true that senior citizens who no longer have children in the public school system tend to contribute more in taxes than they require in services, that alone is not enough reason to absolve them from part of their property tax liability to the town. We are all in this community together, and public education is a goal that we all must share. It is also one of our goals, however, that Newtown remain a community where people of varying economic backgrounds may live and work without undue economic hardship brought on by taxes.

With that in mind, we urge the Legislative Council’s ordinance subcommittee to recommend, and the full council to enact, a fair plan of tax abatement for senior citizens who can demonstrate a need. Given all the expenses the town faces in the immediate future – the construction of a new school, the creation of new athletic facilities in town, and the possible purchase of Fairfield Hills – now is not the time to offer $3.3 million in financial incentives designed to keep senior citizens in Newtown when most of them weren’t  about to move out in the first place.