MAC: Senior Citizen Tax Credit Program

Did you know …

The town of Canton offers the Senior Citizen Tax Credit Program to Canton senior citizens. Applicants for the program must be residential property owners in the town and also be 60 years of age or older. The program affords seniors the opportunity to work for the community in various specific, temporary, and part-time service areas. In exchange, the town will provide a residential property tax credit up to $1,500 per year. State Rep. Bill Galvin of Canton recently filed an amendment to a municipal government operations bill that increased the tax credit from $1,000 to $1,500. It also increased from 125 to 175 the number of hours a senior can work to earn that $1,500. Under the state guidelines, participants’ hourly earnings may not exceed the minimum wage. Galvin also said that the “senior work-off program is important for seniors on a fixed income.” For more information, contact Diane Tynan, executive director of the Council on Aging, at 781-828-1323.

The MWRA’s main reservoir, the 412 billion-gallon Quabbin, has dropped to about 84 percent of capacity, its lowest mark in more than a decade. The town of Canton receives about 20 percent of its water from the MWRA. MWRA customers draw an average of 207 million gallons of water per day.

On September 18, the Boston Sunday Globe South sports page highlighted Canton native Gabriela Kenyon. The 5’7” graduate of Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, who three years ago led her team to the Division 2 state soccer championship, is now the leading scorer for the UMass Amherst women’s soccer team.

If the South Coast Rail project’s proposed Stoughton Route is approved by the state Department of Transportation, it will restore rail service from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River and bring 40 new trains per day through Canton, requiring reconstruction of the Canton Center station. MassDOT is also considering an alternative route via Middleboro that could potentially be designed and constructed more quickly than the Canton/Stoughton route could. At a recent public meeting on the South Coast Rail project held at Canton High School, the Canton selectmen voiced their unanimous opposition to the Canton/Stoughton route.

Unemployment in Massachusetts fell in August to 3.9 percent from 4.1 percent in July. It is the lowest level in 15 years. Unemployment hit a record low of 2.6 percent in 2001 during the dot-com boom.

Canton Police Detective Paul Gallagher was recently promoted to the position of sergeant.

MAC read with great interest Ernie Boch Jr.’s purchase of the naming rights of the Citi Performing Arts Center at 270 Tremont Street in Boston. For four years, MAC’s co-op job at Northeastern University was next door at 264 Tremont Street, the home of Kemper Insurance. Back then, the building was called the Music Hall. Starting November 1, the historic venue on Tremont Street will be known as The Wang Theatre at the Boch Center. Boch also purchased the naming rights to the Shubert Theatre across the street at 265 Tremont Street, and that will be called The Shubert Theatre at the Boch Center. Boch Jr., 58, runs his family’s multibillion-dollar auto empire in Norwood.

Approximately 25 percent of teachers don’t find a problem with bullying, according to the website dosomething.org. It also reported that during a recent poll, teachers admitted that they only get involved to stop bullying 4 percent of the time. More than 3.2 million students are bullied each year, and approximately 160,000 teenagers skip school each day due to the threat or fear of being bullied at school. In any given semester, 17 percent of students in the United States have been bullied at least two or three times per month. Children who bully typically show signs of aggressive behavior, a need to dominate others, and have a positive attitude towards violence. According to stopbullying.gov, while bullying can occur amongst people of any age, it is most often related to children in school.

The 2015-2016 American Pet Products Association’s national pet owners survey found the following estimates of pet ownership in United States households: 85.8 million cats, 78 million dogs, and 12.4 million smaller animals.

The Open Meeting Law in Massachusetts requires minutes of the boards to be approved as soon as possible after they are written and provided within 10 days. It also requires the release of minutes of executive sessions as soon as the reason for confidentiality no longer applies.

Colbea Enterprises, owner of the Shell station next to the railroad tracks in downtown Canton, plans to raze the existing gas station, repair shop, and front office and replace it with a larger retail market, co-branded coffee shop, and a state-of-the-art service station. The station has been closed for several months awaiting zoning board and Conservation Commission approval to begin construction.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Expect the unexpected and whenever possible be the unexpected.

That is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

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Posted by Joe DeFelice on Oct 14 2016. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.