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Date: 11/5/2015
EAST LONGMEADOW – The town’s fiscal year 2016 (FY16) tax rate for residential, commercial and industrial properties was recently set at $21.12 per $1,000 of assessed value.
The Board of Selectmen voted to adopt the single tax rate during its classification hearing and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue set the rate on Oct. 26, Director of Assessing Diane Bishop said.
“It is an increase in the overall rate,” she added. “It’s a 40 cent per thousand increase. Our values remained the same, so we did not increase any values unless there was new construction on the property.”
Bishop said the town did not tax to the levy capacity for FY16.
The tax rate could have been $21.59 and town could have generated approximately $860,000 in additional revenue.
She added that Board of Assessors Chairman J.W. Johnston recently commended the selectmen and the Appropriations Committee for not spending to the maximum.
“It’s tough for people when their tax bills go [up],” Bishop said.
Despite the FY16 tax rate being set, residents shouldn’t expect to see tax bills in their mailboxes until early next year.
Bishop said she believes the $25 levy limit is a challenge the town must plan for, but she is “not even working about that yet.”
She added, “You also have to keep in mind that if your property values go up, your tax rate per $1,000 goes down and it moves you away from that $25 maximum rate. There’s a lot of variables that you have to take into consideration. We just don’t know what they are. Right now, if everything stays the way it is … Yes, we will be reaching the $25 [tax limit] per $1,000 [of assessed value] in so many years, but we don’t know what’s going to happen with the market.”
The trend within the housing market has been leveled within past years, Bishop said.
“We’ve seen a little down; we’ve seen a little up,” she added. “We always have to look at the whole year, we can’t look at just what’s happening from May until August, but we’re seeing a little bit of an upward trend. By the time we finish getting our deeds for October, November, and December it might average out and be level.”