TTC_10_18_17_Vol.13-No.51.p1-16
TTC_10_18_17_Vol.13-No.51.p1-16.pdf
TTC_10_18_17_Vol.13-No.51.p1-16.pdf
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October <strong>18</strong> - 24, 20<strong>17</strong> www.TheTownCommon.com Page 3<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
can volunteer to work for the<br />
town for up to 125 hours a<br />
year. If approved by the town<br />
Meeting, the veteran would be<br />
compensated by a reduction in<br />
property taxes at the minimum<br />
wage rate of $11, or $1,375 a<br />
year.<br />
This program would be similar<br />
to one offered to seniors who are<br />
property owners. That program<br />
reduces seniors’ property tax bill<br />
for up to <strong>10</strong>0 hours.<br />
In 2012, the Massachusetts<br />
Legislature authorized<br />
municipalities in the<br />
Commonwealth to adopt this tax<br />
program as a benefit for veterans.<br />
“I think it is fantastic,” said<br />
Karen tyler, the veterans’ agent<br />
for eight North Shore towns from<br />
Newbury to essex.<br />
Jarvis, calling the measure “a<br />
small gesture to our veterans,”<br />
said it would give former soldiers<br />
who are financially strapped<br />
“some breathing room.”<br />
Last week, he wrote in an<br />
email, “The veteran tax program<br />
I feel is very beneficial as it serves<br />
all veterans who own property<br />
in town. This by-law will allow<br />
disabled veterans with physical<br />
limitations to have a relative work<br />
for them in their place when they<br />
cannot perform the task.<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
And it is not just coins. pratt<br />
pulled out a box from under<br />
the counter that contained<br />
counterfeit military medals. one,<br />
which would be very valuable<br />
if real, purports to be a Nazi<br />
German tank officer’s medal.<br />
Another claims to be a French<br />
Army good conduct medal.<br />
He is offering them, with full<br />
disclosure that they are fakes, for<br />
a few dollars.<br />
The coin business is still good<br />
and generates great excitement.<br />
two customers recently got into<br />
a fistfight in the store over who<br />
would get to buy a high-grade,<br />
<strong>18</strong>04 big copper penny. The<br />
penny had come to pratt from<br />
an elderly man in rowley. passed<br />
down through several generations,<br />
the penny sold for $<strong>10</strong>,200.<br />
when the fight in his shop<br />
broke out, pratt told both men to<br />
A Tax Cut for Needy Veterans<br />
“This I feel is most important<br />
as there are veterans with physical<br />
restrictions who may solely rely<br />
on their VA disability check and<br />
have limited income.”<br />
tyler said she supports<br />
anything that brings benefits to<br />
veterans. “They have served their<br />
country and now they can serve<br />
their communities. It will benefit<br />
everyone in town,” she said.<br />
Three of the towns she<br />
represents – rowley, wenham and<br />
Hamilton – offer this program to<br />
their veterans.<br />
The city of Amesbury also offers<br />
the program to veterans, veterans’<br />
agent Kevin Hunt said. other<br />
North Shore municipalities are<br />
also considering adopting the<br />
program.<br />
rowley and wenham have two<br />
veterans in each who participate<br />
in the program. Hamilton has<br />
none, she said.<br />
tyler said she knows of no<br />
opposition to the measure, but<br />
Jarvis is prepared to speak at<br />
town Meeting “if I need to.”<br />
He was stopped last week by a<br />
resident, who worried that it<br />
would reduce Newbury’s already<br />
tight municipal budget.<br />
“It is not going to break the<br />
budget,” tyler said.<br />
what it shows is that if a<br />
veteran or a spouse of a deceased<br />
get out. If they wanted the penny,<br />
they could get a cashier’s check at<br />
the bank next door. one of the<br />
fighters came back with a check.<br />
The other man left, he said.<br />
Silver dollars continue to be his<br />
best sellers, pratt said. They are<br />
historic. Many of them hark back<br />
to the American cowboy era.<br />
The silver dollars appreciate<br />
annually about 3 to 5 percent,<br />
which is better than any bank<br />
savings account, he said. And he<br />
promises to buy any of the silver<br />
dollars he sells back so he can sell<br />
them again.<br />
pratt is also an avid treasure<br />
hunter. He admits the millions<br />
of hours he has spent searching<br />
for gold has collected more good<br />
stories than valuable coins.<br />
He once found a loaded world<br />
war II pistol buried in the dirt.<br />
He traced it to a home invasion<br />
in Lowell 20 years before.<br />
The most valuable coin was<br />
or disabled veteran signs up for<br />
the program, “they really need<br />
it,” tyler said.<br />
There are 340 veterans who live<br />
in Newbury. It is unknown how<br />
many veterans own property, on<br />
which they pay taxes.<br />
If the number of seniors who<br />
participate in the program is an<br />
indication of how many veterans<br />
will use it, it should be a handful<br />
at most. of the 1,502 seniors<br />
living in Newbury, only a dozen<br />
signed up this year to work off a<br />
portion of their property taxes.<br />
The state law gives each town<br />
flexibility in implementing the<br />
program. The board of Selectmen<br />
could cap the tax reduction<br />
benefit at $1,000, as it does with<br />
the senior property tax work-off<br />
program.<br />
The selectmen can also prohibit<br />
veterans from also volunteering<br />
under the senior program.<br />
to be eligible for senior tax<br />
work-off the program, applicants<br />
must be 60 years of age or older at<br />
the time of application, reside in<br />
the municipality and occupy the<br />
property for which the taxes are<br />
to be paid. They also cannot have<br />
a household income of $65,981<br />
or less.<br />
The state law did not impose<br />
an income qualification on the<br />
veterans program.<br />
Peter Pratt Worries About the Future of Antique Coins<br />
found behind Haverhill Stadium<br />
by a 15-year-old boy. The coin<br />
was issued in the late <strong>17</strong>th century<br />
as part of George washington’s<br />
presidential campaign. only 31<br />
of the coins were made. two went<br />
to Massachusetts. The one found<br />
had the initials Gw on the front<br />
and the year <strong>16</strong>77 on the back<br />
pratt got an estimate for the coin<br />
between $8,000 and $<strong>10</strong>,000. It<br />
was sold at auction for $<strong>18</strong>,200.<br />
The young man used the money<br />
to buy his first car before he had a<br />
driver’s license, pratt said.<br />
The story that draws his<br />
loudest laugh was over a high<br />
school ring he found in the water<br />
off Hampton beach. It was from<br />
Salisbury High School and he<br />
traced it to its owner. when he<br />
presented it to the owner, she got<br />
furious. It had been part of her<br />
divorce. Cursing the sight of the<br />
ring, she threw it back into the<br />
water, according to pratt’s story.<br />
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