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Date: 12/14/2022
SOUTHWICK — The Massachusetts Department of Revenue has set Southwick’s fiscal 2023 tax rate at $16.11 per $1,000 of property value, a decrease of 87 cents.
Though the rate is declining, Select Board Chair Russell Fox said on Dec. 5 that taxpayers likely won’t see a savings on tax bills, as property values have gone up, on average.
Select Board member Douglas Moglin said that the rate decrease was a matter of simple mathematics as the growth in property values outpaces the growth in the size of the town budget.
“That is the oldest algebra there is, right?” said Moglin. “The valuations multiplied by the tax rate equals the budget. When one of those numbers change, you then have to do the math on the other.”
Southwick Director of Assessment Sue Gore said that the average sale price of homes in the last two calendar years increased by about 10 percent. The town also increased its tax base with more than 30 new homes built in the past year.
At the Annual Town Meeting in May, voters approved a fiscal year 2023 town budget of $16,160,099, an increase of nearly $400,000 from the previous year.