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05/13/2024 12:04 PMThe North Haven Board of Selectmen (BOS) will hold a special town meeting on Monday, May 20, for town electors to vote on an ordinance to provide a tax abatement for “surviving spouses of police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians who died while in the performance of duties.”
The six draft of the ordinance, which is pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes 12-81x, was approved by the BOS at a meeting on May 2. It revises previous language amended by the suggestion of attentive residents on the issue and with support from Town Attorney Jeff Donofrio. The special town meeting will take place at North Haven High School on May 20 at 7 p.m.
The tax abatements offered to spouses of fallen public safety service people, whether they be North Haven town employees or volunteer service people, are generous compared to other municipalities with similar statutes 12-81x- based ordinances, explained Selectman Sally Buemi at the BOS meeting.
“Some municipalities only offer a 50% abatement. We offer 100%,” she said. “Some municipalities do not cover volunteers.”
Volunteer firefighters who are residents of North Haven and performing full-time or part-time fire duties “for any valid fire department located within the geographical boundaries of the state of Connecticut” would see their widowed spouses receive the full abatement on real property taxes.
Spouses of School Resource Officers with the North Haven Police Department or residents of North Haven are also eligible for abatement.
An addition to the ordinance includes abatements given to North Haven spouses of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) licensed by the state who died in performing their duties “for any valid municipal ambulance service provider located” in Connecticut.
There was a change in language from “line of duty” death to a more specific “performance of duty” death in the new draft. For EMTs and police and fire officials, the performance of duty applies to deaths that occur “solely related to the performance of their regular work or as part of it,” reads the ordinance.
Those duties would include: for EMTs, “traveling to, at or returning directly from calls routed through an emergency dispatch center, or test of trials or anh apparatus or equipment normally used by the employer ambulance service providers;” for firefighters, “while at fires, while answering alarms of fires, while answering calls for mutual aid assistance” and for police officers, when “an officer is obligated or authorized by law, rule, regulation, or written condition of employment of service to perform during regularly scheduled hours…that qualify for compensation from a local police department.”
Performance of duty deaths would apply to “deaths that could just have likely occurred while not the performance of such duties.” However, if the BOS wishes to determine that a death qualifies as a performance of duty death, “the First Selectman shall consult with the appliance Chief and Commission along with the Town Attorney” and with a licensed medical professional engaged by the town “if it is deemed appropriate to reach a consensus conclusion,” reads the ordinance.
Surviving spouses of public service officials and EMTs will see the abatement in effect so long as they are residents of North Haven. If the surviving spouse moves to another place of residence within the boundaries of the town, the tax relief remains. The relief will expire if the spouses have passed or if they remarry, as confirmed in the ordinance and Donofrio.