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Doris lives on $208 a month, "and it's hard to get in the job market. Without this program I would have lost the house. There was no way I could have paid those taxes." At city hall Doris read papers and documents to a blind city official, did some filing and phone answering and worked in the parking-ticket division. The work made her aware that she could handle a regular job if only someone would hire her. Says she: "Without a job, you get into a rut you wouldn't believe. I've been turned down a lot, but I'm not giving up yet."
The taxes in-kind service is the brain child of a former city councilman, Nicholas Carbone, who persuaded the city to launch it four years ago. More and more of the city's elderly and handicapped were losing their only asset, their homes, because of steadily rising tax bills. It was the city's obligation to help, said Carbone. Since then, Hartford has spent between $22,800 and $66,000 a year for the program. The unions haven't complained, since no budgeted jobs are involved. There are usually about 100 eligible clients, and if there should be more who are worthy, "we'll go after more money," says Hargreaves. "We're doing more than saving people's homes. We're getting them involved in their own destiny." Corey