Letter to the Editor

LETTER: Surprised Few Residents Attended Tax Hearing

Chasan: "I told them that the residential tax payers needed a break, but the commercial certainly did not need a break since they got a big break last year. "

Tuesday night there was a tax rate hearing at the Selectmen’s meeting. I made a presentation requesting that the split between the commercial and the residential property taxes remain at 1.75 where it has been since 2008.  If this was done, it would have meant a $13 decrease in residential property taxes. I told the Selectmen that the commercial sector in town has been doing very well going back to 2005 (backed up by graphs and data)  The vacancy rates have been very low and the commercial rents have been very good and very steady since 2005 (all backed up by graphs and data). I told them that the residential tax payers needed a break, but the commercial certainly did not need a break since they got a big break last year.   It turned out …

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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 …

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Tax Bills Could Bring Homeowners Holiday Cheer

The average single-family home bill could drop by about $17, and other news you missed from this week's Selectmen's meeting.

While efforts to get the Fiscal Year 2013 tax rate in place well before Christmas may fall short, it may be worth the wait for homeowners.   Based on preliminary data that has yet to be approved by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and assuming the maximum allowed shift in the tax burden to commercial properties, the average single family home - worth $324,377 - would be taxed $5,756.95, a savings of $17.01 over 2012.  Under that scenario, the residential tax rate would be $17.76 per thousand dollars of valuation, while the commercial industrial and personal property rate would be $40.14, Chief Assessor Daniel Dargon told the board Tuesday night.  Framingham Selectmen will set the fiscal year 2013 tax rate - and decide how large the …

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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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