What is a Senior Freeze?

If you qualify for a Senior Exemption on your real estate taxes, you might also qualify for a senior freeze.  A senior freeze is a great way to keep your taxes down, because it will essentially freeze the assessed value of your property to whatever the assessed value is the year you qualified.  You won’t be subject to annual increases in the assessed valuation of the property, as long as you continue to qualify.

 

To qualify for the 2013 senior freeze:

 

1)  You must be born in 1948 or earlier.

2)  You must own the property you are applying for, and it must be your principal place of residence.  If you do not own it, but you have a lease that states that you are responsible for the payment of real estate taxes, that is sufficient.  But you must have owned the property or had a leasehold interest in the property on both the first day of 2012 and the first day of 2013. 

3)  You also must have been the responsible party for payment of both 2011 and 2012 property taxes.

4) In 2012, your total household annual income must be $55,000 or less.

 

If you qualify, act quickly!  Contact your local assessor’s office for the senior freeze application!