Utah
The secret weapon for retirement financial stability in Utah
Jerry Schmidt, a former senior services case worker, talks about the Circuit Breaker program, which offers property tax relief for senior renters and homeowners, at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
Estimated read time: 2-3
minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Thousands of retired Utahns are paying their rent at the beginning of the month, only to be left with insufficient funds for groceries, phone bills and car insurance.
Circuit Breaker is a little-known state program that wants to help.
Circuit Breaker helps with assistance on property taxes and is therefore made known among homeowners over the age of 65, but the program wants to be known among renters as well to provide rental assistance.
Burt Harvey, division manager for the Utah County Tax Administration, said, “We have many seniors who would like to seek some tax relief that just barely don’t qualify, and my heart goes out to them.”
Harvey said if these older adults knew about the Circuit Breaker program, their financial situation would drastically improve.
James Green, 73, a recipient of the program, wants to help get the word out about Circuit Breaker as much as possible. Green credits Jerry Schmidt, a former senior services case worker, for the benefits Green has received due to the Circuit Breaker program.
“Had it not been for Jerry, I do not know what I’d have done,” Green said.
Schmidt, who has worked with the Legislature on getting the state program more funding, is avid about getting the word out about the program because of the difference he has seen it make for people like Green.
About Green, Schmidt said, “I had a client at Ballpark Apartments who was living on $880 a month in Social Security. He got a check for $660 on the (Circuit Breaker) program that he’d never knew existed before we … told him about it, and it ended up being 6% of his annual income. … So I’ve seen what it can do for people.”
Schmidt made a video for older adults to learn how to apply and fill out forms here. The website to apply for the funds is here, along with a list of qualifications for applying.