ASHBURNHAM -- Residents will be paying an average of almost $500 more next year on their tax bills, due to a tax-rate increase from $19.83 to $22.28.
At the Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday night, the Board of Assessors presented their plan to up the tax rate for fiscal 2015. Ashburnham has always had a single tax rate for residents and businesses, unlike some larger cities in Massachusetts, and this will not change. What is new this year, according to Board of Assessors member Donna Burton, is the amount at which the rate will increase.
"It's gone up a little bit more than normal," Burton said. "Usually the impact on an average bill (from year to year) is about $200, and this time it's gone up almost double that."
In part because the average single-family home in town is valued relatively low compared to other communities in the state, at $201,657 for fiscal 2015, the tax rate is one of the highest in Massachusetts. Based on this $201,657 valuation, the average Ashburnham family will be paying an estimated $4,493 next tax season, a $496 increase from this year.
The rate, Burton said, is going up "basically because of the brand new Briggs Elementary School."
The new tax rate yet isn't finalized yet, she added, but only because the state has yet to sign off on it.
"We didn't set the tax rate yet because the Deparment of Revenue didn't certify it yet," she explained. The certification is pending, and once it is final, the selectmen just have to vote to approve the new rate.