AMHERST —A tax work-off program that gives senior citizens the opportunity to have temporary jobs in exchange for a decrease in their property tax bills is seeking participants.
Maura Plante, program director at the Senior Center, said there are six openings in the program that features 35 slots. Property taxes can be reduced by up to $1,000 for those in the program.
Among the slots open is a receptionist at the Senior Center, where Plante said the person would be expected to function in a busy, multi-purpose space and have good interpersonal skills, doing data entry and emailing weekly press releases from the Senior Center, delivering meals for Highland Valley Elder Services at noon daily or for the University of Massachusetts meals on wheels in afternoons, and participating in the Friendly Visitors initiative, which matches up participants with senior citizens who are isolated and homebound.
Plante said though the current vacancies are at the Senior Center, others who are part of the program do jobs at the Jones Library, at the Leisure Services and Supplemental Education department and in the collectors office at Town Hall.
Participants can get a maximum abatement of $1,000 per fiscal year, applied to the quarterly bill due in February. The money to fund the program, started as a pilot program for 10 individuals in 2002, is set aside annually in the overlay account.
Those interested must be 60 or older and, for singles, must have an annual adjusted gross income up to $36,531, and for those in two-person households annual adjusted gross incomes up to $54,797.
Plante can be reached by phone at 259-3213 or email at plantem@amherstma.gov. She will send forms to those who contact her and then set up an appointment to determine those who have employable skills and whether background checks will be conducted.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
