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Date: 1/4/2023
LUDLOW – Based on a presentation given by the Board of Assessors, the tax rate is projected to decrease in fiscal year 2023 (FY23).
The tax rate will be at $19.51 per $1,000 valuation compared to last year’s $19.99 per $1,000 per valuation which is a 2.4 percent decrease.
The Board of Assessors met with the Board of Selectmen on Dec. 23 to host a tax classification hearing.
Even though the tax rate is expect to decrease, the amount of taxes residents pay will increase.
“The average single family tax bill will increase by $330 or 6.6 percent. Last year it was $5,031 and this year the average will be $5,363. The average commercial tax bill increases by 4.1 percent or by $451,” according to the Board of Assessors.
Board of Selectmen Chair Tony Goncalves added that some homes will be affected a little more than others based on neighborhoods.
“It is unfortunate, but everything goes up. People must understand we brought on a school, a Senior Center and quite a bit of debt along with contractual obligations and cost of living expenses,” Goncalves added.
The Board of Assessors said, “Any attempt to shift the more of the tax burden from residential to the commercial classes would result in a significant increase to the CIP taxes since these classes comprise only 20 percent of the total value of the town.”
CIP stands for Commercial, Industrial and Personal Property and the Board of Selectmen had to decide if they wanted a shift percentage that would lower the residential tax rate and raise the CIP tax rate.
“We recommend keeping it as it is,” The Board of Assessors added.
The Board of Assessors said that values of homes increased anywhere from 3 to 9 percent and the total valuation of the town increased 8 percent while total growth decreased by 8 percent.
Board of Selectmen Vice Chair James Gennette said, “I agree that we should not have a split tax rate. If our new growth is decreasing already, I can’t imagine even entertaining a split tax rate would improve that.”
Selectman Manny Silva raised some concerns about when the tax classification was taking place.
“What are we going to do about getting this in early? Year after year we get this too late. This is crunch time right now. This could be detrimental if the bills do not go out on time,” Silva said.
The Board of Assessors said they will investigate the problem but said that all the numbers for the tax levy and budgets were sent in ahead of time to look at.
Goncalves talked about how the town is way behind this year in terms of new growth compared to years past. He said, “The average tax bill will go up $330. I know people have a hard time with the number of businesses popping up, but the number has declined year after year and its inevitably going to hurt. That $330 could have been a little bit less if we had a couple more businesses come in.”
Goncalves added, “Just because your homes have gone up in assessment, it doesn’t mean that you are going to get a big increase. Tax bills are backed into, so when we calculate the amount of money we need to spend to run as a town, that is divided back into to the total value of the town.”
The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to keep the residential factor at one.