CFO Recommends No Increase in Residential Property Taxes

With an unexpected infusion of funds from the state, CFO Mary Ellen Kelley proposes a plan that would mean residential tax bills would remain unchanged from last year.

Framingham’s Chief Financial Officer Mary Ellen Kelley updated her tax projections for fiscal year 2013 and offered the town a plan that would not increase residential taxes. Kelley recommended earmarking a $1.2 million windfall of state aid to reduce the tax levy and in December knocking a point off the residential-commercial shift to 1.74. If Kelley’s suggestions are followed the average residential tax payer would be obligated to pay on average $5,773.95 in taxes for FY 2013, the same as last year. The residential tax rate under Kelley’s plan would be $17.74 per $1,000 of assessed value, which is higher than the FY 2012 tax rate of $16.94. But the average assessment for a residential property in 2013 dropped to $325,509 from FY 2012’s $…

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: 2012 Assessments Need to Be Explained

Calder: "As taxpayers we rely on Town officials to provide a detailed and reasoned explanation, and to back that explanation with facts. Whether unable or unwilling, they have so far failed to provide an explanation ..."

This year the average residential tax bill in Framingham increased by approximately 10%. While some of that increase came about because of a need to pay for the annual increase in the Town budget, most of the increase is the result of a significant shift of the tax burden away from commercial taxpayers towards residential taxpayers. These facts are clear, but the details for a proper understanding of why there was such a large shift and what trends that may represent have not been forthcoming from Town officials. The shift from commercial taxpayers to residential taxpayers was the result of a corresponding shift in the total valuations of commercial and residential properties. The total value of commercial properties in Framingham …

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Gregory Andrews

10:39 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Mr. Calder, Comments like these will get us no where. Let me show you one of my other comments you failed to quote me on. Mr. Calder, I would be happy to sit down with you and explain why I think you don't need to know the formula and how it is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Trying to explain myself in tiny comments might not get my point accross. Just let me know. I'm in the book. Greg   more ›