Authorizes the town of Bristol to apply the owner-occupied tax rate for mixed-used properties where the residential portion is owner-occupied.

Plain-English Summary

This bill gives the town of Bristol, Rhode Island special permission to offer a lower tax rate to certain property owners who have a mix of residential and commercial space in the same building. Specifically, it applies to "mixed-use" properties — for example, a building where a shop or office occupies the ground floor while the owner lives in an apartment upstairs. Under this bill, Bristol would be allowed to apply its lower "owner-occupied" tax rate to the residential portion of those properties, as long as the owner actually lives there.

Currently, mixed-use properties may not automatically qualify for the more favorable owner-occupied tax rate, even if the owner genuinely uses part of the building as their primary home. This bill fixes that by giving Bristol the authority to recognize the owner-occupied portion and tax it accordingly, rather than applying a higher commercial or non-owner-occupied rate to the entire property.

The people most directly affected are small property owners in Bristol who live in a building they also use for business purposes — such as a small business owner, landlord, or entrepreneur who runs their shop out of the same building where they reside. For these individuals, the bill could result in a lower overall property tax bill. It does not apply statewide — only the town of Bristol has this authority under this legislation. The bill has passed both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly and has been sent to the Governor for signature.