By Adam Swift
The Town Council voted to keep to a single tax rate for residential and commercial property, and not to adopt a residential or small commercial property tax exemption for Fiscal Year 2024 at Tuesday night’s meeting.
By keeping with the status quo, the average single family property tax bill will increase by $495 for FY2024.
Residential property, which also includes multi-family homes and apartment buildings, makes up 94 percent of the property tax base in Winthrop, compared to only 6 percent for commercial and industrial property.
Because of an increase in property values of town properties, the tax rate is going down slightly even though the average bill is increasing.
The tax rate for FY23 was $10.70 with an average value for a single family home at $624,954, according to Nate Cramer of Municipal Finance Services. The bill for a single-family home at that value was $6,687.
This year, Cramer said the rate is going down to $10.42, but the average value of a single-family home is $689,206. The average bill for a single-family bill would be $7,182.
Council Finance Committee Chair Richard Fucillo said his committee met on Monday night to discuss the possibility of the town moving toward a split residential-commercial tax rate or providing residential and small commercial exemptions.
“One of the big things was, is this worth it for Winthrop?” said Fucillo.
Fucillo said those actions could be valuable at a future date, but the finance committee determined they would not be impactful at this time. The finance committee recommended that the town maintain the single tax rate, a recommendation the full council approved.