Photo: Belmont property owners will see an increase in next fiscal year’s tax bill
Property owners would see Belmont’s property tax rate decrease as the Board of Assessors presented a series of recommendations at a public meeting before the Belmont Select Board at its Dec. 5 meeting.
The Assessors propose a property tax rate for fiscal year 2023 of $11.25 per $1,000 of assessed value, a drop from the current rate of $11.56 per $1,000, according to Robert Reardon, long-time chair of the Board of Assessors. The Select Board voted unanimously to adopt the new rate.
But due to a hot residential real estate market that resulted in escalating home values, the average property tax bill for households will increase. According to the Assessors, the average value of a single family house in Belmont rose to $1,463,000, up a robust $116,800 from $1,346,300 in fiscal year 2022. The average value of a single family house statewide is $525,788.
With the Proposition 2 1/2 increase of the tax levy and the impact on the tax rate of nine debt exclusions – which includes the Senior Center, the Wellington Elementary School and three segments of the new Middle and High School – which makes up 12 percent of the total tax rate, the expected property tax increase on an average house will be approximately $900 for this coming fiscal year, according to Reardon. Without that additional debt, the tax rate would be $9.90 per $1,000.
In addition, the Assessors are recommending the town not create a split tax classification where commercial property would be taxed at a higher rate than residential homes., Reardon said since commercial real estate makes up just five percent of Belmont’s property base, a split rate would not raise any more in taxes while businesses would be hit with a significant rate increase while homeowners would see a very small reduction. The Select Board supported the recommendation.
I feel as if this article could be misleading. Our taxes don’t automatically go up when the value of our home goes up. The town can only set the total tax assessment for all properties at 2.5% more than the previous year (+new growth). So the pie is a fixed amount. If the total stays fixed but your tax goes up, someone else’s goes down. This is because of the way the assessments are apportioned across the town. So the average tax bill is not going up if the assessment per $1000 is going down while the total tax levy doesn’t grow more than 2.5%. There is something else going on here that I’d like the editor to clarify. Thank you.
A huge burden on fixed income home owners. We may have to leave Belmont to the rich who can afford all these hikes in a town that has demonstrated poor fiscal responsibility according to published reports. Debt exclusions are onerous enough and this property tax hike, but let’s not allow an override!