Residential Tax Bills to Increase

Residents in Braintree will be paying more in taxes next year.

On Tuesday night, the Braintree Town Council voted to adopt the new tax rate as recommended for fiscal year 2015 in a memo from Mayor Joseph Sullivan .

In the memo, Sullivan said that residential property values have increased this year 8.5 percent from $335,914 to $364,642. Due to the increase, the projected average annual adjustment in residential tax bills will be $199.70.

Residents however will receive a break when it comes to the tax rate. Originally $11.42 per thousand dollars of residential value last year, the new rate will be 11.07 per $1,000 of residential value.

Prior to the vote, Sullivan noted that Braintree has one of the lowest residential tax rates in the state and the second lowest in Norfolk County.

The commercial rate will also go down from $26.06 to $24.95. The shift however will keep commercial rates at 175 percent, the highest allowed by state law.

The council also voted to keep the small business exemption that reduces the property tax burden for commercial properties employing less than 10 people whose assessed value is under $1 million.

Also voted on were three motions to move free cash to three different funds. $1.5 million will be transferred from the Fiscal Year 2014 budget to the Stabilization Fund, $500,000 will be placed in the building capital stabilization fund, and $700,000 will be moved to the Stabilization Fund for Fiscal Year 2015 Capital.

Prior to the vote, over $14.2 million of the budget was free cash.