[Adopted by the Board of Selectmen 5-1-2006]
The Town of Brookfield hereby enacts a tax exemption
for qualifying veterans pursuant to Section 12-81(21)(C) of the Connecticut
General Statutes. This article is enacted for the purpose of assisting
severely disabled veterans who have received special housing under
Title 38 of the United States Code.
Pursuant to Section 12-81(21)(A) of the Connecticut
General Statutes, a "disabled veteran with a severe disability" is
any person who is a veteran "who served in the Army, Navy, Marine
Corps, Coast Guard or Air Force of the United States and has been
declared by the United States Veterans' Administration or its successors
to have a service-connected disability from paraplegia or osteochondritis
resulting in permanent loss of the use of both legs or permanent paralysis
of both legs and lower parts of the body; or from hemiplegia and has
permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm or either side of the body
resulting from injury to the spinal cord, skeletal structure or brain
or from disease of the spinal cord not resulting from any form of
syphilis; or from total blindness as defined in § 12-92;
or from the amputation of both arms, both legs, both hands or both
feet, or the combination of a hand and a foot; sustained through enemy
action, or resulting from accident occurring or disease contracted
in such active service. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed
to include paraplegia or hemiplegia resulting from locomotor ataxia
or other forms of syphilis of the central nervous system, or from
chronic alcoholism, or to include other forms of disease resulting
from the veteran's own misconduct which may produce signs and symptoms
similar to those resulting from paraplegia, osteochondritis or hemiplegia."
A.Â
As permitted under Section 12-81(21)(C) of the
Connecticut General Statutes, the dwelling house and the lot whereupon
the same is erected, belonging to or held in trust for any resident
of the Town of Brookfield who is a disabled veteran with a severe
disability, occupied as such person's domicile shall be fully exempt
from local property taxation, if such person has received financial
assistance for specially adapted housing under the provisions of Section
801 of Title 38 of the United States Code and has applied such assistance
toward the acquisition or modification of such dwelling house.
B.Â
The same exemption may also be allowed on such housing
units owned by the surviving spouse of such veteran (i) while such
spouse remains a widow or widower, or (ii) upon the termination of
any subsequent marriage of such spouse by dissolution, annulment or
death, or by such veteran and spouse while occupying such premises
as a residence. During the period of time that the surviving spouse
remarries, the house will be put back on the tax rolls and then upon
such time as that marriage is terminated by dissolution, annulment
or death, that house can then be taken off the tax rolls again if
he/she lives in it.
The exemption authorized hereunder is applicable
to the assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 2006.
Claimants must be residents of the Town of Brookfield
and registered voters who are able to prove their eligibility status
in accordance with Section 12-81(21)(C) of the Connecticut General
Statutes.
