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Date: 12/26/2023
HOLYOKE — The city’s split tax rate for all properties has been set at 1.69% for fiscal year 2024 following a majority vote by the City Council during its Dec. 14 special meeting.
The average single-family homeowner will pay $18.49 per $1,000 or property value, while commercial and industrial rates will be set at $40.26 per $1,000. While rates go down, bills will rise because of assessed property values increasing.
The average home valuation in Holyoke is $246,060 and the average homeowner will pay about $230 more on their bills for fiscal year 2024, according to the Assessor’s office.
Leading up to the meeting, Mayor Joshua Garcia recommended a better tax shift for businesses.
“Last year when the council met around this time to set the tax rate, we had an opportunity to send a strong message to the business community, not to just those that are here, but businesses across the state, by lowering the commercial tax rate below $40. Instead, we continued the long [short-term] tradition of shifting the tax burden away from residential and increasing the burden onto commercial,” Garcia said in his weekly update released to the city.
Garcia added this decision last year to continue this “tradition” is a problem.
“Residential values have doubled in Holyoke in the past 20 years, currently just under $2 billion in value. Meanwhile, commercial real estate has remained flat during that same period. And during that time period, the commercial tax rate has continued to grow while their values remain stagnant. We need to acknowledge what this means. The only way we can achieve sustainable growth and stability to the extent that I know is possible is by expanding our commercial tax base. For that reason, we need to correct the course and offer a better tax break for our commercial businesses.”
Garcia said doing so will help residents in the long-run by shifting the tax burden off the residents in the future and creating a more equitable system for all, especially those most vulnerable such as seniors and individuals on fixed-incomes.
“While I acknowledge this is certainly the most difficult decision the council has to make every year, I hope they will consider my recommendation to right the course; to help plan for and support a much more sustainable tax base; and a select shift that will bring the commercial tax below the $40 rate,” Garcia said.
The City Council set the rate after much debate on if the tax burden should fall on residents or businesses. In the 10-2 majority vote, At-Large Councilor Jose Maldonado Velez and Ward 4 Councilor Kocayne Givner were the two votes against the change. At-Large Councilor Israel Rivera was absent for the vote.
“We want to help everyone. The reality is, I think we have to kind of split the baby in my opinion, like we had to do last year. I don’t think it’s fair to the residents to take it and put it all on the homeowners and nothing on the commercial, and vice a versa. We kind of meet that balance in the middle and I think that’s a balanced approach,” said At-Large Councilor Kevin Jourdain.
“We have to try things different,” Rivera said. “We have to set benchmarks and strive toward those benchmarks so that businesses can see we are really doing what we are saying we are doing.”
During discussion At-Large Councilor and Finance Committee Chair Joseph McGiverin clarified that communities in Massachusetts can shift the tax rate from commercial and industry to residential.
For FY23, single-family homeowners paid $18.78 per $1,000, while commercial and industrial property owners paid $40.20 per $1,000. In 2022, the residential rate was $19.26, while commercial and industrial was $40.60 per $1,000.