By Kim Siebert MacPhail
While rates are not yet settled for FY13, the town’s Finance Director Victor Garofalo indicated at the Finance Committee’s November 15 meeting that residential taxes may increase by only a nominal amount this year.
“I talked with the Assessors and their books and our books balance and it was mentioned at [the] Fiscal Planning [Committee meeting]… that the tax bills are not going to be anything of a major increase this year,” said Director of Finance Victor Garofalo. “It’ll be somewhere in the neighborhood between 0.5%-1.5%. It’ll be 0.5% on average for residential, maybe a little bit less.
A bar graph compiled by Finance Committee member Rich Bowen distributed at the meeting illustrated that property taxes on a $500,000 home increased from $5,780 in 2007 to $7,788 in 2012, or 35% over five years.
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There was no specific explanation and no mention of a turn around in the commercial sector. There’s a general sense that the economy is doing somewhat better but concerns remain that state aid to cities and towns may not be as robust as last year. Stay tuned!
There will be a full discussion on Monday November 26 at the Selectmen’s meeting at 7:30 pm. This is the annual tax classification hearing where the tax rate will be set. I am sure the Citizen will cover the meeting. All of the factors – valuation of commercial property, new growth, residential values and responsible local government spending will be discussed.
Kim was there an explanation as to why the rate has flattened? Is commercial property strengthening?