Newton City Council Approves Higher Property Taxes

NEWTON, MA — Newton City Council approved a residential property tax rate of $10.45 for $1,000 of assessed value and a commercial tax rate of $19.94 for $1,000 of assessed value. While the rates are down from $10.82 and $20.62 this year, most property owners will see an increase because of rising property values.

The average assessment for a single family property in the is $1,185,891 which means the average property tax bill will ring in around $12,392.56 next year. That's up $562.33 from last year.

For context the median commercial property tax rate fell about five cents in 2018 to $17.54 per $1,000 of assessed value across the state, according to the Boston Business journal. Meanwhile, the median residential tax rate fell 50 cents to $15.10 per $1,000.

The assessors do not raise or lower taxes, rather they report market value. Each year the tax increase or decrease is determined by the budgetary requirements of the mayor and the City Council to run the city.

From the Newton assessors' website:

Rising or falling assessed values do not mean rising or falling tax bills. The increase or decrease in taxes seen by the property owner is a direct result of the increase or decrease in the budget. The budget increase or decrease determines the tax increase or decrease. There may also be some shifting of tax liability among classes of property (residential, commercial, industrial, personal) based upon the overall increase or decrease in value of the particular class. The primary reason for a tax increase or decrease is based on the budget requirements of the Mayor and the City Council to fund city operations.

Proposition 2 ½ limits all Massachusetts communities from raising the amount of citywide taxes more than 2.5 percent from the previous year’s levy limit, but it does not limit any individual property tax increase or decrease.

According to the assessor's website the median assessed values for Fiscal Year 2019 in Newton are as follows:

• Single Family $1,004,550
• Two-Family $806,900
• Three-Family $891,150
• Condominium $607,600
• Apartments $1,242,200

There are tax exemptions for veterans with at least 10 percent service related disability, income-eligible elderly, surviving spouses, and people who are blind, infirm, and have other hardship cases, according to Newton City Hall.

More about this year and last year from the assessor's office:

• The total FY2019 taxable real estate value in Newton is $29,965,698,200.
• The total FY2019 taxable business personal property value is $459,149,400 which, when added to the real estate, results in a total taxable assessed value of $30,424,847,600 in the City of Newton.
• The total FY2018 taxable real estate value in Newton was $27,670,576,000.
• The total FY2018 taxable business personal property value was $$434,148,500 which, when added to the real estate, resulted in a total taxable assessed value of $28,104,724,500 in the City of Newton.

RELATED: Average Newton Property Tax Bill Is $9,907 (From 2014)

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Photo by Jenna Fisher / Patch Staff. Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).

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