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Date: 12/15/2021
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Amid rising residential valuations and plummeting pandemic year profits for local businesses, town councilors had a hard time deciding how to apportion the property tax burden last week.
After rejecting a proposal that would have placed more burden on homeowners, and another that would have raised rates higher for commercial property owners, the Town Council on Dec. 6 voted 7-1 to adopt a compromise that will see the average residential property’s annual bill increase by three-quarters of a percentage point, although the tax rate itself is dipping from the current $16.90 per $1,000 assessed value to a rate of $15.49 in fiscal 2022.
Alex Villar, the town’s principal tax assessor, said that’s because home values have shot up since the last reassessment. The average single-family home is now valued at $259,277, instead of $235,894 in fiscal 2021.
Commercial tax rates will drop from $32.48 in fiscal 2021 to $30.92 in fiscal 2022. Individual tax bills for both residential and commercial properties will depend on the assessments of those individual properties, Villar noted.
West Springfield, like a handful of cities in Western Massachusetts, has a split tax rate, in which commercial property owners pay a higher rate than homeowners. Councilors debated how to shift that split in a year when home values increased at a faster pace than commercial property values.
Councilor Edward Sullivan proposed increasing the shift from the current 1.48 to 1.535, a higher split than what the council eventually adopted. That would shift more of the burden onto the business community, but would still result in lower tax rates on both sides.
Councilor Michael Eger, however, asked that the council not push so much of the tax burden onto business owners, who have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic and haven’t received as much government aid as individuals have.
“I think having something a little bit more equitable helps those who employ us,” he said.
He proposed a tax shift of 1.50. Councilor Nathan Bech seconded the proposal, but no other councilors voted for it.
Councilor Daniel O’Brien noted that tax hikes are driven by increased spending, and last year, the town budget rose to $105 million.
“With that in mind, we had the misfortune of this being an evaluation year in the most skewed real estate market that we’ve had in the past 30 years,” he said. “Everyone’s value went up — so you can set the tax rate as low as you want — everyone’s bill will go up because the values have gone up.”
O’Brien also said he recognizes the struggles that businesses have faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but disagrees that they need more relief than homeowners.
“I believe that the average homeowner needs every [break] they can get this cycle,” he said. “They’re paying more for gasoline, they’re paying more for food, they’re paying more for heating oil, natural gas, everything is going up and they have no one to pass cost onto. Businesses can move costs onto a consumer.”
He proposed a 1.55 split, which he said would result in a residential rate of $15.49 and a business rate of $31.52. He said that business rate would still be significantly lower than the commercial tax rates in West Springfield’s “competing” towns.
“That puts us still comfortably below them, but it gives the residents, which this year more than ever, need as much relief as they can get because of that skewed [residential real estate] assessment.” He described the assessments as “arbitrary” due to the lack of control residents have in determining their housing costs.
Councilor George Kelly seconded O’Brien’s proposal, but again, no other councilors voted for it.
Bech said he agreed with Eger that “businesses have been hit pretty hard through the pandemic, and there has been a good amount of government help to folks at home, to where a lot of restaurants can’t find help.” Bech gave the Storrowton Tavern as an example, along with New Joy Wah on Westfield Street, where he gets takeout often.
He reiterated Eger’s point and said, “As individuals, we’ve gotten help from the government — everyone who's needed it — as businesses have been struggling, I think it’s worth helping the businesses.”
Council President Brian Griffin then suggested a compromise shift factor of 1.52.
“I think 1.55, as proposed by Councilor O’Brien, while I understand where he was coming from, it comes much closer to the maximum shift factor,” he said — the highest commercial burden, a shift of 1.58. He said getting too close to the maximum shift would leave the town with no means to provide residential tax relief in future years. He also expressed agreement with some of the points made by Bech and Eger.
“Yes, the businesses were hit considerably, and I believe they were hit considerably. They may be able to pass on some cost, but they may not be able to pass on some cost either, meaning jobs.
We’ve got a valuation that’s going up and if we tax that commercial business any further, they’re going to start cutting even more people and that’s what you want to stay away from, as well,” he said.
Griffin said he believes the 1.52 tax shift “meets the best of both worlds” and is a “happy medium” between Eger’s and O’Brien’s proposals.
Bech commented, “If we hit hard times in years to come, we have the flexibility to leave the residential rate the same and put more burden on commercial [properties]. Whereas if we move that shift further, then when those hard times come, we’re going to hit the residential and business community. Having that cushion of being able to protect residents in the future, I think, is a good idea.”
When it came time to vote on Griffin’s motion of 1.52, seven councilors voted yes, with only O’Brien voting no.
Student representative
Student representative Karin Sharma informed the council that following the closure of grades, “the students of West Springfield High School surpassed all expectations with grades this first quarter.” She added, “There were significantly less students who were failing one or more classes this first quarter than have been the past two years.”
Despite the concern of returning to in-person learning after a year online, she said it’s “great to see.”
Sharma said that over the week of Thanksgiving, WSHS was able to host its pep rally outside with all grades in attendance. Due to indoor restrictions, this was the first time during the pandemic that the school was able to host something of that magnitude, safely. In addition, she said Spirit Week saw good participation, with more people joining in than she has seen over her four years at the high school.
On Thanksgiving Day, West Springfield played in its 97th annual Thanksgiving football game against Agawam, winning 40-19.