Select Board Adopts Board of Assessors' Lower Tax Rate, but Taxes Rise with Property Values

At Select Board’s November 21, 2022 Tax Classification Hearing, Select Board approved the Board of Assessors’s recommended tax shift factor of 1.7 for allocating the tax burden between the commercial and residential classes for FY 2023. This is the same shift factor that has been in place for FY 2022, and while lowering the tax rate, the dollar amount that taxpayers will be assessed in taxes will rise.

The result of using the 1.7 tax shift factor in FY 2023 is that commercial property, which represents 14.62 percent of total town value, will pay 24.9 percent of total taxes in FY 2023. This compares to commercial’s 26.6 percent share of town taxes in 2022.

For the commercial class, the tax rate per $1,000 in property value will decrease in FY 2023 compared to FY 2022, from $28.99 to $27.63, respectively.

For residential properties, the tax rate per $1,000 in property value will also decrease, from $14.83 in FY 2022 to $14.30 in FY 2023. 

However, the dollar amount on tax bills will increase because property values have increased. For example, a residential property valued at $838,700 in FY22, which increases in value to $927,850 in FY 2023, will experience a tax increase of 6.25 percent.

“And just to be clear, with the proposed tax shift, the tax rate would be lower, although folks will be paying a little bit more because their value has increased so much,” observed Select Board Member Marianne LeBlanc Cummings at at the Tax Classification Hearing.

Nancy Hyde, chair of the Board of Assessors affirmed Ms. Cummings’s understanding. Ms. Hyde noted that the selection of 1.7 as a shift factor represents consistency with the prior year’s 1.7 shift factor, as well as a balancing. It considers the tax burden to residents while also considering taxation that will keep Westwood attractive to businesses locating to the town.

"We're very fortunate to have [a tax shift factor] in Westwood because that allows us to lessen the demand on residential taxpayers in town by increasing the burden on commercial taxpayers," she said.

Other towns such as Wellesley and Medfield have a single tax rate for both residential and commercial properties.

"But there's always a balance we're trying to achieve," Ms. Hyde continued. "We don't want to overburden commercial taxpayers and have a detrimental effect on Westwood being an attractive place for commercial property owners to be. At the same time, we're very concerned about the burden on our residential taxpayers. So it's always a balance," said Ms. Hyde.

While residential properties have increased in value by 10.72 percent, commercial properties have only experienced a moderate 2.12 percent growth in value, reported Assessor John Curran at the November Tax Classification Hearing.

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