Durham Adopts Ordinance Exempting Car Tax on Certain Vehicles

Durham residents who own a car or a minivan modified to accommodate a person with disabilities won’t have to pay property taxes on that vehicle anymore.

Residents approved during a special town meeting on Monday, Jan. 13, an ordinance that exempts these types of vehicles — an example being a mini-van with a modified door to accommodate a wheelchair — from the annual car tax.

Roughly 40 people attended the special meeting, and only one person who voted opposed the ordinance. With the residents' approval, the ordinance is now adopted.

For a Durham resident to seek this exemption, that person must have a registered motor vehicle in town and must provide a note from a doctor explaining why these modifications to the vehicle are necessary, explained Assessor John S. Philip.

“The exemption is tied to the person with disabilities, not to the car,” he said. The disabled person can either be the owner, or a relative of the owner, such as a spouse or child.

Philip told the residents in attendance that the language in the ordinance was taken, more-or-less, from legislation the state passed last year allowing for these types of exemptions in Connecticut towns.

During the course of the discussion several questions were raised, however, as to how Durham might stem potential situations in which a person tries to take advantage of this exemption.

In response, First Selectman Laura Francis said the key requirement is the doctor’s note explaining the person’s disability. Without that, a person who simply has a vehicle that may be modified cannot seek the tax exemption.

She said that, according to the preliminary research, there are only two vehicles in Durham that would be subject to this tax exemption. By comparison, Hartford currently has 15, Philip said.

Philip noted that he has been involved with the implementation of this type of ordinance in two other towns over the past 15 years, and he’s never been aware of a situation where a person tries to get a property exemption just by having a modified vehicle.

Two amendments were also approved during the course of the meeting: changing the date for residents to apply for the exemption from Dec. 31 to Jan. 31 and ensuring that this new ordinance supersedes any previous ones.

Francis also said that the town did discover it had a similar ordinance on the books from the late 1990s, but this older one was never codified in the town's online database. Rather than tabling the newer ordinance, Francis said the town decided to move forward with enacting this newer ordinance because it takes advantage of the newer state law.