Vice Chairwoman Mary Parella took the floor of the last Council meeting to discuss her hope that the Council will establish a Blue Ribbon Commission to address an ongoing problem in Bristol: affordability.

“I call it a homestead exemption, but it's really to enhance what we do for our senior citizens,” said Parella. “The Council and Administrator have been good about keeping our budget lean. But we have a great community, it's very desirable, and property values are just shooting up and making it incredibly difficult for our seniors to maintain their homes.

“They are the people who have contributed to make in this town a great place to live, so I think we have to just do something about this.”

Currently seniors enjoy a nominal $150 tax abatement. Parella would ideally like to see the Town offer 20% or more off the annual bill.

She noted that the Council has had many informal discussions about this, and that it’s time to take action. Of course, one piece of the puzzle is how the Town will make up for lost income; to that Parella brought up the idea of creating a multi-level tax structure that would charge different rates for residents versus investment and commercial properties.

“We've talked a lot about it informally, and we allude to it many times, and we just need to take action,” she said.

It’s unclear who might be the beneficiary of the abatement, whether based on age or length of residency or a combination of the two. One thing is clear, this is an issue that is going to require a great deal of research, discussion, and public input.

Reached after the meeting Council Chairman Nathan Calouro agreed it’s an important issue, and one with a lot of moving parts that need careful consideration.

“We need to figure out who we are talking about, people who are over 80? Over 65? People who have owned their homes for how long? That will tell us if we are talking about 200 people or 2000, then we have to ask ourselves what that costs everyone else,” said Calouro. “Diane Williamson’s Rubik’s Cube analogy is a great one — you get one side of the cube in order and is messes up the other sides.”

According to Calouro, Town Administrator Steven Contente and Tax Assessor Michelle DeMeo have already done a little research looking into how other towns have handled similar issues.

Calouro says the first step will be a Council workshop in the spring, after the next year’s budget is finalized. While the discussions may reveal differences among the members about the finer points of implementing such a plan, it is clear the Council is committed to moving this process along, agreeing that the current $150 discount for seniors is insufficient.