By Sue Ellen Woodcock
Between the increase in real estate values and new growth in the City, the residential and commercial property tax for fiscal year 2017 is a bit lower.
The City Council, on the advice of the city assessors and Director of Finance George Anzuoni, set the new tax rate for fiscal year 2017 at $13.99 per $1,000 of valuation of residential property and $27.53 per $1,000 of valuation for commercial property.
Last year’s tax rate was $14.45 for residential and $28.70 for commercial.
“Just because the rate went down doesn’t reflect a decrease in tax bills,” said Councillor John Powers. “We have to raise money for city operations.”
Both rates went down due to increasing real estate values and $1.8 million in new growth. Of that new growth about $1.1 million was due to new residential property and there was about a 1 percent increase in commercial growth.
