SPRINGFIELD — More than five years after the City Council first approved it, the senior tax work-off program is officially coming to the city of Springfield.
The city’s Department of Elder Affairs announced via social media that applications for the program — which allows eligible seniors 60 years or older to work a set amount of hours in exchange for a property tax credit — will be accepted from Feb. 10 until March 31 at 4 p.m.
The application asks basic yes or no questions, along with a question about annual household income, and whether the prospective applicants have a medical condition that may hinder their involvement in the program.
Seniors applying are being asked to submit their applications in-person at the Raymond Jordan Senior Center, located at 1476 Roosevelt Ave. According to the city, applications are available on the Springfield’s website to print or at all of the city’s senior centers.
If they are unable to travel to the center, seniors can also mail their application, but they must make sure they have enough time to do so before the application deadline is reached.
How it works
For the 2025 program, eligible seniors will be chosen by a lottery to work 67 hours between July 1 and Oct. 1 in exchange for a $1,000 property tax credit.
“That’s huge given this market; given that the property tax values have gone up,” said Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila, during a General Government Committee meeting on Jan. 17. “One-thousand dollars could really mean a lot to a lot of people, so I think this is a meaningful program.”
During the General Government, Tax Program Assistant Jose Hernandez said that once the application period closes, the city will choose 20 seniors to participate in the program through a lottery process scheduled for April 4 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Raymond Jordan Center.
Hernandez said those 20 people picked will fill out necessary paperwork and take other necessary steps before officially beginning the program.
Once the work period begins on July 1, seniors will have the opportunity to work any time they want between 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Oct. 1; as long as they reach the mandatory 67 hours to get the property tax credit.
“There’s not a real restriction as far as how soon or how quick they have to finish those 67 hours,” said Hernandez, who added that he will receive a time sheet from whoever the senior’s supervisor is in whatever department the senior is working in.
“I’ll have a record of it on a spreadsheet of some sort,” he said. “Once their hours are complete, I take those hours and I submit it to the assessor’s office and let them know, ‘Hey, this person completed the program, they’re all set, you can add the abatement to the following tax year.’”
Hernandez told the General Government Committee that the work seniors will do to receive the tax credit would not be strenuous. He added the participants in the program could be doing things like placing flyers, working in a kitchen for a couple hours, restocking books at the library or redecorating a bulletin board.
Hernandez said that five departments in the city have responded to him saying that seniors could help in their respective departments, including the city library, Health and Human Services and Veterans Services.
If seniors participating in the program fail to meet the 67-hour threshold for whatever reason, Hernandez said the city will still award a property tax credit that reflects the hours they did work.
“They might get sick; life happens,” Hernandez said. “So, in the case of that, if they don’t end up finishing, they will get rewarded the amount of hours they worked.”
When it comes to income guidelines for the program, Hernandez said the city is following the state’s Circuit Breaker income, which means a single individual who is not the head of household can make up to $72,000 a year to be eligible, $91,000 a year as the head of household, or $109,000 as a couple filing jointly.
“The 20 who are selected will provide a month’s worth of bank statements, the previous year’s taxes, things like that,” Hernandez said.
Background and benefit
The senior tax work-off program was first adopted by the council in November 2019 but was never enacted due to COVID-19 and staffing shortages. State Rep. Orlando Ramos (D-Springfield) first introduced the proposal for program when he was a councilor.
Although the delay has been longer than anticipated, the program is now ready roll, and elected officials and community members alike are hopeful this can be a supplement to the growing tax bills in the city, which were discussed during the tax rate vote in council in late 2024.
“It allows people to benefit economically while also having a sense of purpose, and for the city to benefit from their knowledge,” Davila said, of the program.
Springfield resident and former City Council candidate Juan Latorre was also thankful of this tax work-off program and said that he remembers publicly pushing for it two years ago to help seniors in the post-pandemic landscape.
“While there are some great financial aspects to this, the thing I’m also excited about is the opportunity for many of our seniors to get active in the community; to be immersed in an environment where they can socialize with people,” Latorre said.
Hernandez told the committee that the city is trying to keep the program as fair as possible, meaning those who are chosen for the program this year must wait at least a year to apply again.
Eventually, the hope is to have more than 20 people chosen for the program, but that depends on how this first year goes.
A press conference will be conducted on Feb. 6 at 10:30 a.m. at the Raymond Jordan Center to officially announce the program.
