5 Things You Should Know About Last Night's Tax Classification Hearing

Chief Assessor for Danvers Marlene M. Locke presented to the Board of Selectmen the outcome of an interim property value analysis at a public Tax Classification hearing Tuesday.

The analysis was based on several indicators for both the residential and commercial and industrial properties as well as revenues from personal properties. The Board of Selectmen used this analysis as a tool for determining the percentages of the tax burden for the fiscal year 2012.

Here are the five top things you need to know:

• After four years of decreases in property values, most residential property owners will see no change in their property value. Most commercial and industrial property owners will see no change in their property value as well.
• Properties that were issued building permits or were part of the town’s cyclical inspection program may see a change in their value.
• At the tax classification hearing on Tuesday, the Board of Selectman voted to keep the fiscal 2012 residential tax factor the same as last fiscal year: 1.26.
• With a factor of 1.26, the $60.3 million dollar tax levy will be split up as follows: residential property owners pay 66.37% of the levy and CIP (commercial, industrial & personal property) property owners pay 33.63%.
• The Board of Assessors is waiting for approval of the tax rates, which were submitted to the Department of Revenue shortly after the conclusion of the hearing Tuesday night. The projected tax rates of $13.93 residential and $19.38 CIP will result in an average tax bill increase of a little less than 4% for all property classes.

The selectmen approved the measure to remain at a tax factor of 1.26 -- spreading the tax burden relatively equal between the residential and CIP classes. Selectmen Keith Lucy voted against the initiative.

Lucy did not agree that this was the best solution to the situation, given the 2/3 to 1/3 split (residential to commercial tax breakout) at times during the past eight years, which he said has been an unfair burden to residents.  

Lucy, who handed out a spreadsheet calculation which reviewed the data in aggregate numbers, said increasing the tax factor to 1.286 would even out the disproportionate amounts paid by each class. He broke down the analysis to another level, which included a review of new growth juxtaposed to Non-new growth for both residential and CIP.  

While there was support for Lucy’s analysis, the selectmen overall favored sticking with the current percentage split and may revisit changing the tax percentages next year.