Seventy-five Swampscott residents are supporting the town by taking advantage of the Senior/Veteran Property Tax Work-Off Program, where homeowners over the age of 60 can work 133 hours at $15 an hour to accrue up to $2,000 taken off their property tax bill.
While the program is run statewide, Assistant to the Town Administrator Jody Watts said Swampscott has focused on it extensively due to the amount of seniors in the area.
Applicants select options from various areas of interest, and Watts later reaches out to assign them tasks based on their strengths. Programs include: record filing, gardening, cleaning, classroom volunteers, library aides, painting, and more.
“We get access to incredibly talented people at a very modest rate of pay, so it helps us fill in a lot of the gaps for different types of projects,” said Watts, who runs the program.
Sheila Billings has recently completed murals inside the library, on the DPW wall, and on two utility boxes. The DPW yard mural is a big, blue wave that was inspired by “The Great Wave of Kanagawa,” a 1831 painting by Hokusai.
“I signed up for (the program), but they didn’t have anything for art. So I made my own box and checked off that I’d like to do art for the town because I’m an artist,” Billings said.
Watts said that while the monetary benefit is a bonus, most participants choose to enroll in the program due to the community connection aspect.
“It helps establish connections with senior residents that we wouldn’t otherwise have. It’s a win-win,” Watts said.
Mike Devlin, retired CPA, is currently working on the accounts payable records retention project at Town Hall with former Salem Hospital IT employee Lori Jackson and former Fidelity Brokerage Principal Mike Rubin. The project consists of identifying and sorting invoice records that need to be kept on file and discarding the remainders.
“There’s a small financial part of it, but I think the biggest part of it is socialization. As a recently retired person, you’re always looking for something to do, and this was a way of doing that in a simple way,” Devlin said of the program.
Jackson said, “The monetary benefits are nice, but this gives you a lot of flexibility, and you meet a lot of people.”
Rubin said, “I get satisfaction from supporting the community rather than just being an observer.”
Devlin, Jackson, and Rubin said their former jobs have given them skills that easily translate into the records project, including computer knowledge and attention to detail.
“I think we’ve organized it in a way that’s pretty impressive,” Devlin said.
At the Senior Center, program participants use their skills in various areas such as nursing, cooking, bingo, card games, and group walks.
“It’s very rewarding; the people in the program all have so much in common. You meet so many people,” said Susan Spooner-Turner, former psychiatrist nurse, while taking community member Cindy Pierce’s blood pressure.
While working in the kitchen, retired financial advisor Olga Frezinskaya said cooking is a refreshing change in pace from the demands of her former job.
“I like to make food and to serve people,” Frezinskaya said. “It’s a pleasure to be here.”
Former hairdresser Mary Katsoulis was already teaching canasta at the Senior Center before she found out about the program and figured she’d might as well join.
“It’s a great game; it’s a fun passover, and you make a lot of friends,” Katsoulis said.
Along with making social connections, participants in the program also help local organizations run more smoothly by easing the workload for supervisors.
“It frees me up and helps me prioritize,” said Heidi Whear, Director of Aging Services at the Senior Center.
The participants at the Senior Center and Town Hall agreed.
“Because I’m a nurse, I can see the caretakers need a break sometimes,” Spooner-Turner said.
Devlin said, “It takes the burden off of people. I’d rather have employees focus on the more important aspect of government rather than sorting through old files.”
Watts said the program has grown “quite a bit” in the past five years, so it is starting to be a challenge to find opportunities that best suit applicants.
However, Devlin applauded Watts’ dedication to the success of the program.
“She’s been a consistent, steady hand with this. She gets to know people and their strengths,” he said.
