Larry Davis knows where he wants to die. It’s on the plot of land where he’s lived since 1963 on Salisbury Road in Franklin. The house where he grew up is to the right, a yellow raised ranch where his brother now lives. Davis lives in a converted garage on the left of the property. It’s small, but he says it’s all he needs.
Davis, 69, grew up in Franklin giving tours of Daniel Webster’s birthplace in Franklin for 25 cents an hour. He can remember where he was when John F. Kennedy died. He was in the fourth grade, sitting in that yellow house.
But financial troubles continue to jeopardize the future for the retired stonemason. He is one of hundreds of people living in the state’s smallest city well below the poverty line. He owns his home, yet he’s on the brink of homelessness.
“This is the end of my life,” Davis said. “I think it’s beautiful. It is a nice place to live and I like living here.”
In 2016, Davis almost lost his home – the two-acre lot is valued at $66,500 and the house at $26,800 – as unpaid property taxes piled up. After the Monitor wrote about the possibility of the city of Franklin taking his home and selling it at auction, an anonymous couple paid off Davis’s back taxes, and put money towards future payments.
That was five years ago. Now, Davis is behind on taxes again.
Twice a year in Franklin sends out property tax bills. Davis missed his first payment, which was due in July. He owes the city $590.95.
Although Davis is not in jeopardy of losing his home yet, as the process for the city to seize property does not begin until three years after a missed payment, for every day the balance remains, it earns interest. Currently, the interest rate in Franklin is 8%.
If his bill remains unpaid by next year, the city can place a lien on his house, which will lead to more fees on top of his growing debt.
Davis doesn’t work, and he hasn’t since his days as a stonemason. He used to be able to build an entire house from the chimney to electrical wiring, in three months, he said. The only thing he didn’t know how to do was install plumbing.
Now with his declining health, Davis is housebound. He does not drive, nor have access to a car.
With no savings, he lives off of $358 a month from social security payments, which means his annual income is less than $5,000 a year.
In Franklin, the median annual income for non-family households is low for Merrimack County at $29,506, according to the US Census. That equals $2,458.83 a month.
“I’m poor. I lived a life of fun,” Davis said. “And I didn’t save my money like you’re supposed to for retirement.”
Calculating his income as an hourly wage reveals Davis would earn about $2 an hour. His income is far below the living wage in Merrimack County, which is $16.98 for an adult with no children in the greater Concord area, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s calculator.
In Franklin, about 6% of the city’s 8,700 residents live below the poverty line like Davis.
Although he receives assistance for some expenses, he hardly has enough money to maintain his home. His property taxes are $76 each month, which comes out to $912 a year.
He originally bought the garage from his neighbor for $14,900. He remembers she was moving and offered him the land. Back then he had the cash.
Piece by piece he converted the garage to a house, but he didn’t have running water until last year. A state program installed a well for him in April. He was listening to the radio one day, when an advertisement for the program came on.
Prior to the well, Davis would collect rainwater or wait for snow to melt off his roof in the winter.
He hopes the county’s Community Action Program will help him weatherize his house this fall. Instead of using his wood stove, he’ll heat the building with propane. After he broke his leg cutting wood, it’s too much for him to manage lugging around all the logs. He’s grateful for any help he receives.
“So you know, I’m blessed by the state,” he said.
The Community Action Program program provides services that help low-income and elderly people remain financially independent in their communities. Services range from child care to food and rental assistance programs.
The Fuel Assistance Program gave out $3 million in home heating aid last winter for almost 3,000 houses in Merrimack County, of which 331 were in Franklin.
In a way, Davis sees the help he’s receiving as good karma. Throughout his life, he did a variety of free projects for others, he said.
“I still do a lot of free things for people. And I’ve always in my life,” he said. “I guess I must have done something right.”
Despite his luck and government assistance, Davis is not sure how he’ll make enough money to pay off his taxes.
He thought about selling some of his old carpentry tools. They sit in sheds on his property, untouched.
In past years, he would grow a variety of vegetables in the front of his house – selling some and giving away others. He hasn’t felt strong enough to garden this season. He hopes to be planting again next year.
He has no plans of leaving. The ashes of nine of his friends and family were spread on his property. He wants to be number 10.
“My father died over there in his house and this is where I die,” he said. “I like it here.”