LONGMEADOW – The Adult Center is hosting its annual tax abatement program as way to grant seniors and veterans a way to decrease their tax bills in exchange for community service to the town.  

Adult Center Director Amy Saada told Reminder Publications applications for the program are due by Dec. 30.

“This program is based on income and applications are available in the Assessor’s Office or at the Council on Aging,” she explained. “And what the program essentially does is you volunteer 100 hours for the town. We have job descriptions for different town departments. And then you can get $950 credit on your town tax bill.

Eligible seniors must be 60 years or older and for veterans there is no age limit, but proof of military service is required. Any individual’s total income cannot be greater than $57,000 for a single person or $86,000 for any married couples filing jointly for the 2016 tax year.

According to information from the town, volunteer service starts January 2017 and runs through Dec. 1, 2017.  Applications and detailed program guidelines are available at the Longmeadow Adult Center, 231 Maple Road, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during weekdays

Saada said the Adult Center also has a fuel assistance program and if any individual is new to the fuel assistance program she advises they make an appointment with Outreach Coordinator Michael Squindo.

“The program is based on income, so they would bring in their last 30 days of either pay stubs or social security statements,” she explained. “Basically, it’s an application that you fill out. We work with the Valley Opportunity Council, which is the lead agency for the program. We fill out the applications and send them in and people get a significant decrease on their heating bills. The dollar amount differs [based on income].”

There is no limit to the number of people who could receive fuel assistance in Longmeadow, she noted. There are 700 households in town that qualify for fuel assistance based on federal poverty levels.

“A one-person household could make $34,000 and that person would still qualify,” she said. “A family of five can make $75,000 [annually] and still qualify for the program. A lot of people don’t realize that the income is higher than some other programs like food stamps. A lot of people are too proud to come in and apply and that’s unfortunate. We have seniors that are living on fixed income. They can all come in and apply. The senior community is very proud and they’ll choose not to have medications over paying bills.”

The Adult Center’s food pantry levels are also at good levels with the holiday season approaching, Saada said. She said the pantry is steadily stocked.

“What we bring in, we bring out,” she explained. “We don’t keep anything on storage ... We don’t want to horde food. We have between 15 and 20 households that come to our food pantry regularly. We are open twice week, Tuesdays and Fridays, and we’re open to all ages. We’re not just a senior center food pantry.”

Any donations would get the pantry through the holiday season, she added.

“People are good about [donating] a variety of stuff,” Saada said.