That’s a 31% drop from the current rate, but taxes will still go up for many

The other shoe has dropped … mostly. With the release of Town Manager Andy Nota’s fiscal year 2025 budget May 1, residential property owners can now calculate their property tax bill based on his proposed $15 per $1,000 assessed value tax rate. That is, on their new property assessment, which increased an average of 45 percent.

The current tax rate for residential property owners is $21.85, so a $15 rate is a 31.35 percent or $6.85 drop. For a house valued at $600,000 (remarkably, that’s the median these days), the tax bill comes to $9,000. To get that number for your property, take your assessed value and multiply it by .015 and you will get your new tax bill number. 

This budget isn’t final yet so don’t go carving that number in stone. The Town Council has two meetings scheduled on Nota’s proposed budget – Monday, May 6, and a public hearing Monday, May 13 – and there could be more. They have until June 10 to approve a budget for FY 2025, which begins July 1. If previous years are any guide, the Town Council will make little or no changes to Nota’s proposed budget. If the budget does change, it would almost certainly affect the rate by pennies rather than dollars. 

The other big annual question mark with the town’s budget is what does Nota’s budget allot to the schools? The School Committee had asked for a 5.39 percent increase in the appropriation from the town, 1.39 percent higher the 4 percent limit they had traditionally kept at or under. Nota’s budget allotted $41,246,446 or a 3.83 percent increase over the current year. If that remains unchanged, the School Committee would need to trim $617,330 from its overall budget of $50.3 million. You can find out more about the School Committee’s thinking in voting for that higher-than-normal budget increase HERE. 

Again, this is a budget proposal and the public is invited to weigh in during the public hearing Monday, May 13. Town Council meetings typically begin at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at Town Hall; we will post the agenda and Zoom link when they are available. If you’d like to hear more about the budget, there is a Town Council meeting Monday night, May 6, at 7 p.m. Find the agenda and Zoom link HERE. You can find the town manager’s full budget HERE.