Thursday, November 30, 2000 Older Editions

Taxes rise to cover budget; business surcharge remains

By Rebecca Piro

Last year's average homeowner will pay $84 more in taxes this year than last - or $7 more per month.

Selectmen voted Monday night to keep the town's tax factor at 1.26, the same factor used to calculate tax rates last year, fiscal year 2000.

The vote also means that the average fiscal year 2000 business owner will pay an increase of $798, or $62.50 per month.

The tax factor is used to calculate the residential and the commercial/industrial tax rates. The higher the tax factor, the lower the residential property tax rate, and the higher the commercial tax rate. Those tax rates determine how the town covers the budget for fiscal year 2001, which was approved in April at Annual Town Meeting.

With a 1.26 factor, residents will pay 68.5 percent of total taxes, though they own 75 percent of the property value. Businesses will pay 31.5 percent. While assessed value did not change from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2001, the budget did increase, causing the increased tax bills, said Selectmen Chairman Brian Major.

Every three years properties are reassessed, explained Assessor Bruce Symmes. In the interim years, such as this year, the town does not have to make adjustments.

"If we had increased the values, the tax rate would have come down," said Symmes. "But since we didn't, (the rate) depends (only) on the spending of the community and Town Meeting votes."

Last year, an average home valued at $313,800 paid about $4,597 in taxes. A homeowner with that same $313,800 property will pay about $4,681 this year, an $84 increase.

Until Monday night's vote, selectmen had annually lowered the tax factor since 1996, reducing the percentage of the tax bill paid by business owners amd increasing residents' tax bill. Some business owners had hoped that trend would continue, while some residents were eager to see this stopped.

"It is my feeling in general that the Board of Selectmen should stabilize the 1.26 factor and not go along with the trend," said resident Mary Carbone of Cyr Circle, who wanted to see businesses pay more this year. "(Businesses) draw from our infrastructure, (such as the town's public safety and water supply). In fact, we could probably go to 1.30," she added.

Major suggested moving the factor down to 1.25, which he said would bring closer to parity the burden of any tax increase. "I would prefer the 1.25 because it does even out the additional tax responsibility," he said.

The board passed a motion to keep the current 1.26 factor with a 4-1 vote, with Selectman Lori Becker against the decision. Becker preferred the 1.25 option.

The few residents who attended the meeting were pleased with the results.

"I appreciate what (the selectmen) did tonight, keeping (the factor) the same. It's fair," said Bill Burke of South Main Street.

Resident Kim Carpentier of Orchard Crossing was happy that selectmen did not make any radical changes in the factor, considering the operating expenses of two new schools and a new safety center will soon be added to the budget.

"Why make changes now before we know what's going on in the future?" he said.

Selectmen voted unanimously against three tax exemption options that the town has never accepted - an open-space exemption, a residential exemption and a commercial exemption.

Under an open-space exemption, housing lot owners with developable acreage could deem a parcel of their property as open space and receive a tax reduction in return.

The residential exemption could have reduced the tax burden on homeowners whose property is valued at $200,000 or less.

In a commercial exemption, aimed at small business owners, owners of businesses worth less than $1 million could receive a tax break worth 10 percent of their assessed property value.

But board members said they did not think it fair for them to give a break to one group at the expense of another.

If an exemption was given to open space owners, residential owners would make up the tax difference; if the average household got a 20 percent discount with a residential exemption, the higher-assessed homes would pay more; and a commercial exemption would only pass on the burden to industrial and personal property owners, they agreed.