By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — An error occurred which prevented several dozen households from receiving the Homestead Exemption when filing their state taxes for 2017.

The error impacted 68 households that should have been eligible for the Homestead Exemption, according to Casco Town Manager Dave Morton.

“What happened is that we couldn’t find the application for them. We are supposed to have them on file,” Morton said.

Town staff has contacted the households that were affected and asked them to fill out the Homestead Exemption form again, he said.

“People whose form was in error — those people must file a new exemption form,” he said.

Morton brought up the error during his town manager’s comments at the Casco Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday.

“Our attorney said they don’t have to fill them out every year, just make adjustments for last year’s mistake,” Morton said.

The Homestead Exemption is a program that “provides a measure of property tax relief for certain individuals that have owned homestead property in Maine for at least 12 months and make the property they occupy on April 1 their permanent residence,” according to the Maine government website.

“Property owners would receive an exemption of $20,000,” the site said.