[Adopted TC 6-14-2023]
Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes § 12-81x,
the Town of Cromwell hereby enacts a tax abatement program with respect
to real property owned and occupied as the principal residence of
the surviving spouse of a Town of Cromwell police officer, firefighter
or emergency medical technician who has died while in performance
of such officer's or firefighter's or technician's
duties pursuant to and on the terms and conditions provided herein.
The purpose of this article is to honor police officers, firefighters
and emergency medical technicians who die while in the performance
of their official duties on behalf of the Town of Cromwell and to
ease the resulting financial burden on such officer's, firefighter's
or technician's surviving spouse.
For purposes of this article, the following terms shall be defined
as follows:
Any person who is certified as an emergency medical technician
by the State of Connecticut Office of Emergency Medical Services and
is a duly employed or a volunteer member of a municipal emergency
medical services department in the Town of Cromwell, serving in an
official capacity, full-time or part-time, with or without pay.
Duties performed while traveling to, at, or returning directly
from all dispatch calls routed through the emergency dispatch center,
or tests or trials of any apparatus or equipment normally used by
the Emergency Medical Services Department; while instructing or being
instructed in EMT duties; or while engaging in any other duty ordered
to be performed by a superior or commanding officer in the Emergency
Medical Services Department.
Duties performed while traveling to, at, or returning directly
from fires or fire-related calls, alarms of fires or calls for mutual
aid assistance, or tests or trials of any apparatus or equipment normally
used by the Fire Department; while instructing or being instructed
in fire duties; or while engaging in any other duty ordered to be
performed by a superior or commanding officer in the Fire Department.
Any person who is a duly employed or volunteer member of
a fire department in the Town of Cromwell, serving in an official
capacity, full-time or part-time, with or without pay.
Duties which an officer is obligated or authorized by law,
regulation, or written condition of employment to perform.
Any person who is a duly employed member of the Town of Cromwell
Police Department, serving in an official capacity, full-time or part-time,
with or without pay.
Defined in accordance with the state law, as the same may
be amended.
A.
Subject to the eligibility terms and conditions set forth herein,
there is hereby established, effective with the Grand List of October
1, 2023, an abatement of 50% of municipal real property taxes with
respect to real property in the Town of Cromwell owned or held in
trust for the sole benefit of the surviving spouse during his or her
lifetime and occupied as a primary residence by the surviving spouse
of the following persons:
B.
In the event the surviving spouse shall not be the sole owner of
his or her principal residence, the abatement shall be prorated to
reflect such surviving spouse's interest in the property.
C.
Termination of abatement.
(1)
Municipal real estate taxes due on the real property shall be abated
until the earlier of the following events:
(2)
Notwithstanding, if a surviving spouse subsequently purchases a different
real property in the Town of Cromwell as his or her primary residence,
and all other qualifying criteria are satisfied, the tax abatement
may apply, upon proper application, to the newly purchased property.
The tax abatement may only apply to the one property established as
the surviving spouse's primary residence in any given Grand List
year.
D.
The Assessor shall prescribe such forms and procedures as he or she
deems necessary and appropriate to implement this section. Once such
surviving spouse has been determined to be eligible for the abatements
provided by this section, no periodic reapplication shall be required
except for a change in circumstances or as otherwise set forth herein.
E.
The Assessor, in addition, shall take steps as necessary and appropriate
to satisfactorily establish the facts that support the eligibility
of the surviving spouse for abatement of municipal real property taxes
on an initial and continuing periodic basis. The failure of any surviving
spouse to cooperate in establishing continuing eligibility shall be
grounds for the Assessor to terminate the abatement.
F.
The Tax Collector and the Tax Assessor shall create and maintain
records of the sum of the total monies abated as a result of this
section on a fiscal and ongoing basis.
G.
This section expressly does not apply to heart and hypertension disease
or other disease or occupational conditions that are progressive in
nature. To be eligible for benefits under this section, there must
occur some precipitating work incident that results in a myocardial
infarction or other physical injury on the work site itself and that
is the direct and sole causation of death. The work site expressly
does not include "portal to portal" transportation; that is, from
residence to or from the work site.
