Providence Special Commission on Veterans Affairs-Tuesday, December 3, 2024-4:30 PM
Call to Order, Roll Call, and Welcome Remarks
The Special Commission on Veterans Affairs was called to order and roll call confirmed a quorum of four members. The Chair outlined the agenda, welcomed new commissioner Anthony Alves, and recapped recent veterans events and community recognitions.
Updates on Federal Veteran Disability Benefits and HUD-VASH Policy Changes
Policy staff presented recent federal updates regarding veterans disability benefit calculations and HUD-VASH income eligibility expansion to 80% area median income. Commissioners and staff briefly discussed the positive impact of these changes on veteran housing access.
Discussion on Veterans Property Tax Exemptions and State Legislative Strategy
The commission reviewed Providence's current property tax exemption amounts for regular and fully disabled veterans in comparison to other Rhode Island municipalities. Members discussed drafting state enabling legislation to allow the City Council flexibility to increase local property tax exemptions.
Discussion on Commission Objectives, Future Programs, and Memorial Restorations
Commissioners discussed long-term goals including hiring a dedicated municipal veterans coordinator, organizing a city veterans parade, and partnering with city departments to restore local war memorial squares. They also reviewed previous flag retirement ceremonies and potential outreach with the city archives and veteran families.
Future Meeting Scheduling and Adjournment
The commission established its recurring meeting schedule for the upcoming months on the second Tuesday of each month at 4:30 PM. A motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and unanimously approved.
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Yep. Thank you. So that's oh, you don't need that? That's the agenda? No.
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I just I got it on the Oops.
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Let's see what he's eating. Okay.
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I'd like to call the special commission on Veterans Affairs to Water for, regular meetings for Tuesday, December 23. It is about 04:31. Madam clerk, can you please call the roll call?
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Sherri Prasharda.
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Present.
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Anthony Alves.
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Present.
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Officer Ayanuchi.
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Present.
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Kasim Yarn. Present. We have four present. We have a quorum.
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Thank you very much, and I really appreciate you all taking the time. And welcome once again after Thanksgiving. Hope everyone enjoyed their time with their families and and friends. Just wanted to review our agenda for today. We're gonna be hearing from Patricia from our policy office.
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I know president with us is also deputy chief of staff, Aaron. And the first item on the agenda would be updates on recent policy changes regarding veteran disability, benefits calculation, and income eligibility expansion that Patricia wanted to share with us, and then, we'll go into, some of the discussion that we've had regarding veterans benefits, for the veterans here in the city of Providence and and potential legislation or
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I almost thought that was funny, counsel.
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There you go. That we can be working on and perhaps present something in the legislative year. And then third item, discussion relative to the objectives and future topics of the commission. So
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the
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I wanted to thank everyone and welcome first our new member, to the commission, operation director. Deputy director of public property. Deputy director of public property, mister Alves, also a, a veteran served, was appointed, to the commission, and took his seat on November 7 when we held our veterans event, which was, well attended and also had the opportunity to, honor, Barnaby Evans who for, I believe, fourteen years have been doing the water fire honoring our veterans in the city of Providence. And someone that I know and and someone that I've appreciated over the years as a public servant. Also had our commission member, but also director, state director, Kasim Yarn Jan Kasim.
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Right? Who who also provided remarks and also doing a wonderful job out in the state, getting to every corner of our state and and and, supporting our veterans. I know that I followed him or at least I tried to follow him to a couple of events over the, veterans weekend, and we also participated with a veterans luncheon put on by Meals on Wheels in the city of Providence. That was the first one. I know that the director and the Meals on Wheels have had several of those, and perhaps you can talk a little bit about that.
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And really appreciate your your your remarks during our annual event here at the city Of Providence and also your service. And then lastly, we also heard from congressman Gabe Amel, who we had the honor to have him as our congressman here in the 1st District. And, he's opened the door, for us to collaborate and and work together to improve, serving our veterans here in the city of Providence and also in the congressional delegation of the first congressional delegation along with also the state of Rhode Island. I mean, we have a strong congressional delegation that is pro veterans and and pro family, and I think that we have a superb congressional delegation. So with that said, I don't know if director would like to say a few words regarding the events, and I know he's been circling around the the state.
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I understand the news. So much for the opportunity here to serve. So Yeah. Yes, sir. And and also appreciate your your calendar on online.
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I've seen the the the work that has been put by your staff, and notably our former communications director, Parker, making you look good. And all all of us as veterans. So if you haven't seen the the calendar. Yeah. You gotta check that calendar and also the the website, which is what's your website?
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Vets, vets,.ri.gov. Yeah. That's easy. That's an easy one. So check out that that website for upcoming events and how the veterans are being supported.
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So so welcome, and welcome, Joe, once again. And, this time, I would have, Patricia from policy to talk a little bit about that she wanted to share some of the changes, that have been implemented, I believe. So so I knew.
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Yeah. So, yeah, I'm Tricia. I work in the policy office. Aaron is deputy chief of staff, but he's also the director of policy.
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Just Aaron, join us. I mean, you still have a chair open.
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But, yeah. So these actually were back in August, but, I know we haven't, like, officially met since then. So that's why I'm giving the updates now. But, basically, federal government updated, veterans disability benefit calculations, so that, HUD VASH applicants, they basically, they have an alternative definition of your annual income, which excludes, veterans service connected disability benefits, so it doesn't count that as income. So it basically will allow a lot more veterans to able apply for the program and get housing.
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There's also an income eligibility expansion. So public housing agencies that are administering the program, the HUD VASH program, they must now set the initial income eligibility for veterans at 80% of the area median income instead of 50%. So, again, it just allows much more people to apply for much many more veterans to apply for the program and get the program's benefits. So, yeah, those are the two main updates from that.
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Great. Thank you. Aaron, would you like to add anything to that? The only thing I could add
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is that, obviously, when we were planning to speak on these things, it was, a little bit before the election. You know? An election happened. Elections had consequences. But given that this is an exemption for veterans, I think that this is something that both sides of the aisle can be supportive of.
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So I I feel confident that this will hold even with the new administration coming in. So it's the only comment I would have on it.
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Right. Thank you. I know at the state level, I don't know if, if if, the director, has any comments on that or any news regarding I echo our service as well, and we'll see how it goes. Alright. Very good.
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So going into the the next item has been about providing some type of increased exemptions for the veterans in the city of Providence. And lastly, we've met with the tax assessor, and she clarified a couple of things for us because we were under the assumption that another understanding, but I think Aaron is gonna clarify that. Yeah. But currently, the City Of Providence veterans will only are only receiving about a $153, for their exemption.
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Is that based off of a percentage? Yeah. Like, the percentage of the value of the The property. Yeah.
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Yeah. So Aaron is gonna go into a little bit of of
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because there should be also a difference between,
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like Property value versus
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all know, like, regular veteran status Mhmm. And, somebody who's, like, a 100% disabled. There should be two different
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Yeah. Scenarios. So the tax assessor and Aaron
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So so let's let's hear from Aaron. Yeah. No. As And you could address this question.
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Yeah. I'm gonna address that directly. I think that for regular veterans that not are not a 100% fully disabled, the the average exemption that they've been getting is just a $153 off of their property tax bill. But when it comes to those that are a 100% disabled, I believe the number was they were getting $307 off, which as I see it is not not sufficient for the veterans, you know, in our in our city. So right now, we are working with the administration and talking about the legislative package that is gonna go before the general assembly.
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And I think it's just been determined that rather than try to decide an amount with the assessor, like, now that we would put at the state level as the max exemption providence could give, that we are actually drafting language that would just leave it to the city of Providence and allow the council to decide on the exemption that, you know, we would like to provide for veterans in the city. And that would apply to just veterans and then, you know, fully disabled veterans. So what happens is we're gonna have a bill, but the bill is gonna offer a lot of flexibility for the city. If we are successful at having it passed at the state level, which I believe we will because this is something that the council and the administration that we support about, and it's our own internal finances. So when we come on the same page like that, they generally kick it to us and allow us to do that.
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So once that does pass, then that would give the council the authority, to move forward and set the amount to however we would like to see fit. So that's where we had left off. And, but we we don't have the language yet, but that is gonna be the approach come this January.
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Yeah. So Is there a estimated number of bets we have
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in the city? Estimated number? I did have the spreadsheet. Tricia, do you actually have that? Here.
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It's, like Yeah. 16 page.
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Yeah. So, I don't have the exact number here. I did have it, but I we do. And maybe three meetings ago, maybe back it might have been June or so, you know, the assessor did provide this for us. So I do not have the exact number, but, mister Els, I can actually share this with you.
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We just have the list of everyone that's receiving the veterans benefit here in the city. I imagine that it's a couple of 100, but I just don't have the number
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right here. Well, no. I was just curious because, I mean, you when you when you look at how many regular type veterans as opposed to a 100% disabled veterans Mhmm. And then you look at what their exemption is, you know, and then you look at the real number in total Mhmm. You know, is it really a big burden to the city, you know,
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to Exactly. To change that? Yeah. I understand what you're saying. So, basically, you're saying that, you know, if we have a a handle on the, you know, number of 100% disabled veterans, and that's a little number, I mean, no matter what, the exemption we may decide to do so, it may not be a big hit, you know, to the, you know, city's tax levy.
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So I I agree with you there.