UPDATED: Homeowner Tax Bills to Rise as Selectmen Seek Business Boost
The average bill will increase less than $9 for 2013, while shifting less of the tax burden to commercial and industrial properties will move that tax rate below $40.
A divided Framingham Board of Selectmen voted to approve a split tax rate for 2013 that results in a modest increase in residential tax bills and shifts less of the tax burden onto commercial property owners than in past years.
By a vote of 3 to 2, Selectmen approved a 2013 residential tax rate of $17.84 per thousand dollars of valuation and a commercial rate of $39.98.
The average single family home, valued at $324,152, will see a tax bill of $5,782.87, an increase of $8.92.
If a full shift of 1.75 percent had been approved, as in past years, the average single family home tax bill would have dropped by just under $14. Instead, Selectmen adopted a 1.74 percent shift.
Selectman Jason Smith called the smaller shift "an investment in Framingham's future," one that will work in concert with other steps the town is taking to make for a more favorable climate for businesses.
Smith said these steps "will give us a real chance to offset the residential tax rate by hopeful attracting new commercial business so we can have more money to invest in our schools, public safety and our services for all tax payers."
Smith added that Framingham's commercial tax rate for 2012 was the fourth highest in the state.
"By doing this, we are letting businesses know that Framingham is open for business," he said.
The move was encouraged by the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, whose president, Bonnie P. Biocchi, told Selectmen in a letter that a split rate with a maximum shift would be "deleterious to small businesses."
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Selectmen Chair Charles Sisitsky, who joined Selectman Ginger Esty in voting against the motion, said lingering confusion about how the town assesses commercial properties and the fact that homeowners are still reeling from last year's significant tax increase meant a full shift was in order again this year.
"Last year, residential homeowners took a beating and we said we would try to help," he said.
"We can't forget what happened last year," Esty added.
Before the vote, members of the public spoke on both sides of the issues.
Town Meeting member Herb Chasan, citing data showing Framingham with a lower commercial property vacancy rate than some comparable communities, said businesses in Framingham are doing fine, while "homeowners need a break."
However, Dr. David Moore of Framingham Orthopedics Associates argued it was unfair to burden businesses disproportionately to help homeowners. "That rate translates to dollars and cents out of our pockets," he said. "We [businesses] don't cost the town very much."
Finance Committee Chair Dan Lampl said getting the commercial rate below $40 would help with recruiting new businesses to town, suggesting the threshold was an important psychological one.
"The town needs to do more to build up its commercial tax base," he said.
UPDATED: With another quote by Selectman Jason Smith 4 p.m. 12/19
Mary Ann Quintal
8:21 am on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
i am so tired of this town bending to the needs of a "more favorable climate for business" - what about the thousands of people that live in Framingham and support those businesses every day ? why are we the last to see any benefits when it comes to property tax relief ? where will those businesses be when even we can't afford them ?
Herb Chasan
8:40 am on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
With all the data that I presented last night showing that business in Framingham is doing just fine, three selectmen decided not to reduce your taxes but to increase them. It makes no sense to me. They had no good reason to increase taxes.
Herb Chasan, Town meeting member pct. 4
judy schneider
12:00 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
residential taxes have increased so much that it is making this long term resident of framingham (living on a fixed income) concerned about the future of living here.
i don't believe our population is being considered regarding real estate tax decisions.......
Richard Hertz
12:19 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tax rates mean little to a business who seeks to open up in Framingham only to stone walled by town committees This town would rather keep buildings vacant and have them decay vs someone who wants to come in and upgrade a property and create jobs
The best move I ever made was to move out of Framingham
Roger McCarthy
12:37 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Keep raising taxes and ill sell my house and rent it would be cheaper
Herb Chasan
1:01 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Folks upset about residential property taxes should contact the three selectmen who voted to increase the taxes. It's too bad that there wasn't more support for my effort to have taxes reduced, at the hearing last night.
Herb Chasan
Abby Adams
1:59 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Instead of making the residents of Framingham pay for the poor managment of the town budget, why don't we hold the Selectmen accountable for the terrible job they have done in balancing expenses with income in Framingham? This is not about whether home owners or business should pay more. This disucssion should be about how to reign in the expenses in this town so no one's tax rate has to go up
Herb Chasan
4:04 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Please give one example of expenses that are out of line and what you would do about them.
Janet Leombruno
4:53 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
My friend Herb says the business's are doing fine....sounds like the all too familiar line I heard during the election about the middle class. Well neither is doing fine here...we are in tough times, and we are broke. Without cuts in services, and spending it will not change...doing nothing is not an option, as we are at the end of the road. The Selectmen do not spend the money, Town Meeting does...we spend money we don't have, it's simple math. The money has to come from someplace, and once they go through the millionaires an billionaires, they will come for you. Get ready to pay more..
Herb Chasan
11:01 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
We are not broke as my friend Janet says. Just look to the bloated military budget and to the bloated billionaires who used to pay 91% on their income over a million dollars back when I was a kid. Now they are crying to keep their 32% rate.
Abby Adams
4:56 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I did not mean to imply that expenses are out of line in quite that way. What I meant to say is you can not spend more money than you have. I don't get to raise the amount of my paycheck because my property taxes have gone up cutting into my spendable income. I have to cut other expenses. Sometimes, it means giving up things I want, and may even need, but can not afford. I simply mean the Town of Framingham needs to have the same mentality. You can not keep going into my pocket because the expenses to run the Town have gone up. You need to find other options, just like every single resident in Framingham faced with that dilema has to do.
Herb Chasan
11:03 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Again, my question is: where do you want to start cutting?
Abby Adams
10:51 am on Thursday, December 20, 2012
I suspect you are asking that question to start an argument, but I am not going to rise to the bait because to be honest, I am not sure why you would be asking me to do the job the Selectmen, Town Manager and CFO are suppose to do. I am not in a position to know the micro-details of the Town of Framingham's budget. To ask me, someone unfamiliar with those details, to make those types of suggestions would be a very bad choice. I don't ask my neighbors, or friends, or banker to suggest where the cuts should be in my budget. That is my responsibility. I understand that you are looking to make a point Mr. Chasan about the difficulty of choosing what should be cut, and I have no disagreement with that point. However, I repeat my point that you continue to ignore. I beleive that the Town needs to live within the budget of revenues currently coming in, not raise revenues because they can not do that.
Herb Chasan
4:15 pm on Thursday, December 20, 2012
The town is limited by Prop. 2 1/2 in what it can raise from property taxes. The town does live within those revenues except when an override is requested for an exceptional expense such as remodeling the high school.