Tax rate looks like it will move away from lowest residential

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

Rumors are running around that those in favor of splitting this year’s tax increase between both the homeowners and commercial property owners have scraped and clawed together six votes for tonight, enough to push it through the 11 member council. If it’s true, this would be the first time the council did not set the lowest residential rate since 2006.

Here’s the run down I have. An * by their name means their vote has been confirmed either by Worcester Mag, the T&G or comments they’ve made during previous council meetings. “No” denotes a vote for lowest residential rate, “yes” denotes a vote for splitting the tax increase between homeowners and residents.

Paul Clancy*-No
Bill Eddy-Yes
Mike Germain*-Yes
Barbara Haller*-No
Konnie Lukes*-No
Joe O’Brien*-Yes
Phil Palmieri*-No
Joe Petty*-Yes
Rick Rushton*-Yes
Joff Smith-No
Kate Toomey*-Yes

From what we’re hearing, this is what the tax numbers would look like:

The council will vote in line 258. The residential rate would be set at $16.06 per $1,000 valuation, which means homeowners would see a $178 dollar property tax increase for the year — on average $31 dollars more than it would have been if the lowest residential rate was set. On the commercial side the tax rate would drop to $34.65 per $1,000 valuation but their taxes would go up, on average, $1,139. This does, however, spare them on average $329 if the lowest residential rate were to be voted in. So, the average property tax in Worcester for a homeowner will be $3,307 vs. $21,087 for commercial property owners.

Even if this spoils the surprise for you, tune into tonight’s meeting anyway. Plenty of other good stuff will be discussed.

Advertisement