Council amends homestead exemption requirements after Town Hall incident

The Johnston Town Council unanimously approved changes to the town’s homestead exemption during its Aug. 13 meeting, mandating that residents furnish their address to the Division of Motor Vehicles and show proof of where their vehicle is registered.

Mayor Joseph Polisena requested the council approve the amendments after a tense scene at Town Hall two weeks ago. Polisena opted not to name the individuals involved in the incident, but he accused a man of “verbally abusing and attacking” tax assessor Kim Gallonio and Valerie Laurito after an investigation resulted in the removal of his homestead exemption.

The story goes that the man’s wife called Town Hall to say the couple owns a house in Johnston and they were receiving the exemption, but she said they also have property in Narragansett and her husband’s cars are registered there. She told Gallonio’s office that her husband had also changed his driver’s license address to Narragansett.

Gallonio and Laurito dug into the matter and found that the homestead exemption must be removed. The man came to Town Hall to dispute their action, and Polisena said the individual made a “terrible, terrible scene” and Johnston Police had to escort him out soon after. Polisena said a rescue had to be called for the man.

Polisena noted that the man’s wife called back the next day to try to recant her previous statement. He told the man that if he caused a disturbance at Town Hall again, he would be arrested. Polisena lauded Deputy Chief Joseph Razza for defusing the situation and remaining restrained.

“He had switched everything else, but I noticed, too, what happens with the homestead is people try to rip off the system, it’s no secret,” said Polisena, who watched the affair through the conference room with Chief of Staff Doug Jeffrey and Solicitor Billy Conley. “They’ll drive their 2019 or 2020 Maserati or Jaguar or whatever they have, God bless them, and they’ll register it somewhere else not to pay the taxes. So they are kind of beating the town, and it’s not fair to the taxpayers who are footing the bill.”

Polisena continued to repeat that the town was getting “ripped off,” and urged the council to pass the measures so the town could “keep the dishonest people honest.”

He said that, while some older residents do not own a car and therefore cannot prove were they are registered, they have state-issued IDs to verify where they live. Polisena said the change would affect future applicants for the homestead exemption.

“Even if it’s a leased car, you still have it registered to your home, not a business, not their summer house … it has to be registered at their house,” the mayor said. “There’s not a lot of [violators], but just the ones we want to hone in on. This was brought to our attention by this person. It was a very, very bad scene. He really verbally abused and was bad to the women upstairs. They were very good. They take it. They sit there and take it.”

Polisena said the man in question was paying taxes on a new BMW to Narragansett rather than Johnston, a situation that the changes to the town’s exemption legislation will look to prevent.

“We’re really staying on top of things, the administration working with the council,” Polisena said. “So we don’t want people to rip us off … This isn’t for the honest people, it’s for the dishonest people.”

As for why the man’s wife called to alert the town, Polisena said that might remain a mystery.

“We found out, because his wife called and basically squealed on him,” Polisena said. “So I don’t know why, that’s not my business. I’m not a marriage counselor, I’m a nurse by trade.”