On Sept. 18, the town mailed letters to about 1,300 households, notifying older residents of a potential change to Barrington's senior tax exemption. 

Just a few days later, about 50 people had stopped into the tax assessor's office to voice their displeasure with the potential shift in tax policy. Some of the concerns focused on the town's request for income information from senior residents, a move that officials say is necessary in order to replace the flat rate tax exemption with a tiered income-based exemption.

While some residents vented their anger and frustration with the town's tax assessor, others wrote letters to the editor or called the town manager. Some simply refused to respond to the request for income information and will do without the exemption.

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha said he can understand that residents might be concerned with sharing personal income information, especially following a massive data breach at one of the country's three credit monitoring companies. But, he added, security will be a top priority for town officials during this process.

"We have protocols in place," he said. "But this is additional information we need to collect."

That did little to ease the concerns of WaterWay Court resident Joseph Fulkerson.

"What chance does the assessor's office have to protect this treasure from them when federal government, major companies, and Equifax were not able to do so," he wrote.

The town has set an Oct. 31 deadline for senior residents to submit income information.

The decision to alter the town's senior tax exemption surfaced in the spring, following the annual financial town meeting. Officials said that some of the town's older residents — many of whom are living on fixed incomes — were concerned about the impending tax increase. (The increase is the result of a $68.4 million bond to build a new middle school and increases to the municipal and school department operating budgets.)

Town officials formed an ad hoc committee to study all tax exemptions; the committee started its review with a close examination of the senior tax exemption. 

Last year, the senior tax exemption, or tax credit, offered a discount of about $368 to each household that qualified. 

The new plan is to have an income-based exemption, potentially offering greater exemptions to those who earn less and smaller exemptions to those who earn more. The challenge is finding a way to keep the change in the exemption plan "revenue neutral." The town currently offers about $550,000 annually in senior tax exemptions. Officials need to collect income information from the residents applying for the exemptions in order to ensure that the program does not exceed that amount.

Barrington Tax Assessor Michael Minardi said that depending on how many people apply for the exemption, officials could potentially lower the amount of lost tax revenue. He believes that less than about half of the people who applied for the exemption last year will do so this year.

"We'll get about 650," he said, adding that officials had not previously tracked the amount of money expended on exemptions.

Some Barrington residents are calling the new income-based exemptions "a burden."

In his letter to the editor, longtime Barrington resident Peter Clifford wrote "This change is invasive, cumbersome and costly. If the President of the United States does not have to release his tax returns to anyone, why should our senior citizens have to disclose their income to the Barrington Assessor?"

Barrington's town manager tried to explain the reasoning for the information request.

"The goal," said Mr. Cunha, "is to help people. But it's not being perceived that way.

"This is a case of 'no good deed goes unpunished.'"

The manager said the ad hoc committee needs income information in order to establish the varying amounts of tax exemptions. He said no decision can be made without that information.

Meanwhile, the tax assessor offered some simple steps people could employ when filing their information. He said people could redact their Social Security numbers from the paperwork they submit.

Mr. Minardi has also contacted the town's solicitor, asking for specifications about what will be done with residents' information once it has been used for the exemption questions.

"In the past, we kept it on file," he added.

The side effects of tax study

A recent request for senior residents' income information has led to some interesting discoveries. Town officials said that after mailing out the request letters, some were returned because the property owners actually lived in other states. Officials said that a resident must live in Barrington for at least 183 days in order to qualify for tax exemptions. 

"We're getting mail from out of state or from Atria," said Barrington Tax Assessor Michael Minardi. "If you want this (exemption), you have to live in your house."

Mr. Minardi said his office does not have enough manpower to check on the legal residences for people applying for tax exemptions. He said it is a similar situation for people who register their vehicles outside of Rhode Island, thereby skipping on paying the motor vehicle tax.