Summary of H7005
1. Bill Summary
This bill amends Rhode Island General Law § 44-3-12, which governs property tax exemptions for legally blind persons. The core change concerns how the Town of Barrington handles property tax relief for legally blind residents.
Current law provides Barrington with a fixed exemption of $16,000 on real property for legally blind persons, with an automatic annual increase tied to the percentage increase in the town's total tax levy.
This bill removes both the fixed $16,000 exemption and the automatic annual escalator for Barrington, and replaces them with a flexible authorization allowing Barrington to establish, by ordinance, a tax dollar credit reduction for legally blind persons — similar to the approach already used by Charlestown, Jamestown, and North Kingstown under the existing statute.
All other town-specific provisions in the statute remain unchanged, including:
- Tiverton: tax credit of $300 or greater by ordinance
- Warren: exemption up to $40,895
- Cumberland: exemption up to $47,544
- Westerly: exemption up to $29,000 by ordinance
- West Warwick: $335 credit
The statewide default exemption of $6,000 for all other municipalities also remains unchanged.
2. Comparison with Other States
Property tax exemptions for legally blind persons exist in several neighboring states, though they vary significantly in structure:
- Massachusetts (M.G.L. c. 59, § 5, Clause 37A) provides a statewide property tax exemption of $437.50 for blind persons, with cities and towns permitted to adopt a local option to increase this amount. This is somewhat analogous to Rhode Island's hybrid approach of a statewide floor with local flexibility — and mirrors the direction this bill takes for Barrington by shifting from a mandated fixed amount to local discretion. See: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter59/Section5
- Connecticut provides property tax exemptions for totally blind persons under C.G.S. § 12-81(17), offering a flat statewide exemption with municipalities permitted to provide additional relief by local ordinance — again a comparable tiered structure. See: https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_203.htm#sec_12-81
- New York, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire do not appear to have closely comparable legislation that specifically mirrors this bill's shift from a fixed statutory exemption to a locally determined tax credit for blind persons. Comparisons with those states could not be found.
3. Potential Impact and Notable Aspects
- Greater local flexibility for Barrington: By removing the mandated $16,000 fixed exemption and the automatic escalator, the bill gives Barrington's town council discretion to design its own relief program. However, this also means the exemption is no longer guaranteed — Barrington must act affirmatively by ordinance to provide any benefit.
- Loss of automatic inflation protection: The current automatic annual escalator tied to tax levy growth was a relatively unusual and taxpayer-friendly provision. Its elimination means legally blind Barrington residents could end up with less predictable or potentially lesser relief unless the town council acts proactively.
- Consistency with other towns: The change aligns Barrington structurally with Charlestown, Jamestown, and North Kingstown, all of which operate under ordinance-based tax credit authority rather than fixed statutory amounts.