Date: Fri 23-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

council-Nunnawauk-Meadows

Full Text:

Council Drops Assessment On Nunnawauk Meadows Tenants

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Legislative Council has decided to eliminate nearly all of the $9,000 payment

in lieu of taxes that has been assessed against Nunnawauk Meadows for the past

five years.

"It's important to help our senior citizens," Council President Joseph Mahoney

said. "It's not a lot of dollars - it's not going to hurt the town. It's

something we should have done five years ago."

Acting on the recommendation of its finance committee, which met Monday night,

the council voted Thursday to reduce the assessment against the 120-apartment

complex on Nunnawauk Road from $75 per unit per year to $1 per unit per year.

Operated by Newtown Housing for the Elderly, a nonprofit corporation formed by

the town about 25 years ago, the complex serves as housing for persons who are

62 or older and for persons of any age who are handicapped or disabled.

"This is a very compassionate gesture by the council because they didn't have

to do it," said Frank Delucia, president of Newtown Housing for the Elderly.

"There was always the feeling that (Nunnawauk) should be tax exempt and I'm

pleased that it is being returned to that status."

The reduction means that there will be less of a rent increase than

anticipated for the tenants, he said.

Council member Joseph Borst, who serves as vice president of Newtown Housing

for the Elderly, said that state statutes prevent most towns from assessing

even $1 a year against senior citizen complexes. Nunnawauk Meadows doesn't

come under state statutes, however, because it was built with federal funds

and is operated under a corporation which keeps it under local control.

"The only question I have is why the units were assessed to begin with," asked

Council member John Kortze.

"There were years when the town had to scrounge for $10," said Council Vice

Chairman Melissa Pilchard. "(The assessment) was a compromise. There were some

strong advocates for not giving anything to anyone."

Mr Mahoney said the $1-a-year assessment keeps the mechanism in place for a

future administration to change if necessary.

The complex is valued at $3.7 million by the tax assessor and, based on the

current tax rate of 25 mills, would pay $93,000 in local property taxes if it

wasn't elderly housing. It has its own maintenance staff which also mows the

lawns and plows the roads in the complex.

There are 172 persons on the waiting list to get apartments at Nunnawauk

Meadows.

Mr Borst said the complex has 105 one-bedroom apartments, nine one-bedroom,

wheelchair accessible apartments, and six-efficiency apartments. Rents for the

apartments range from $261 to $485 per month. Gross incomes of the tenants -

107 single persons and 12 couples - range from $5,353 to $32,721 a year. But

because the tenants of 76 units are on rental assistance, and factors such as

medical bills are considered, the actual rent paid for the 120 apartments

currently ranges from $7 a month to $294 a month. Tenants pay their own

electric bills, which include electric heat.

The amount of rent and the income qualifications are spelled out in the

regulations set by the Rural Economic Community Development (RECD) agency

(previously known as Farmers Home Administration (FHA) which provided the

funding to construct the facility.

The majority of the tenants have over the years had some association with

Newtown, Mr Borst said, but because federal funds were used in its

construction, no preference can be given to Newtown residents.