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Proposed Pittsfield Tax Rate Would Hike Bills 8.75%

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The administration is proposing a split tax rate that will increase the average homeowner's bill by 8.75 percent.

City Council will hold a tax classification hearing on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024 tax rate; the meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

Mayor Linda Tyer and the Board of Assessors have put forward a residential rate of $18.45 per $1,000 of valuation and a commercial, industrial, and personal property rate of $39.61.

This is based on a residential factor of 0.8151 and a commercial shift of 1.75. The city will utilize a levy of about $109.1 million.

The residential rate for FY23 was $18.32 per $1,000 of valuation and the commercial, industrial, and personal property rate was $39.21. If the council adopts the proposed rates, there would be a 13 cent, or 0.7 percent, increase for residential and a 40 cent, or one percent, increase for commercial, industrial, and personal property.

An average home valued at nearly $267,914 will pay an estimated $4,943 in property taxes, representing a $397.82 increase from the previous year when the average home value was $248,100.  This would amount to about $33 additional dollars a month.



Commercial properties would see a less dramatic increase of about $145 yearly, as the assessed median value has only increased by $1,550 from FY23.

The assessed residential value for FY24 is $3,868,977,337, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, and the city's total taxable value is $4,822,885,672, a 7.5 percent increase from the previous year.  
The FY24 tax levy of $109,166,941 is a 7.93 percent and more than $8 million increase from FY23.

Between receipts and real and personal property taxes, the city expects to raise almost $230 million in FY24.
 


Tags: fiscal 2024,   tax classification,   

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Lanesborough Picks Information Panel for Public Safety Proposal

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town has a public safety building proposal to present to taxpayers, and now, an informational committee will help move the process forward.

On Monday, the Select Board voted to form a public safety building informational outreach committee and re-appointed four members: Dean Clement, Daniel MacWhinnie, Mark Siegars, and Lisa Dachinger.

"The Public Safety Building Committee has done their job. Now we need, hopefully with some of those same bodies, to form a new committee of some type and move forward," Select Board member Timothy Sorrell explained.

Earlier this month, the town officials voted to advance a $7.3 million combined police/emergency medical services facility to town meeting, discarding the option for a $6.5 million separate build.  The same design, then priced at $5.9 million, was shot down in 2023.

"There is the option to go to what could be a debt exclusion, which requires a two-thirds majority at either a special town meeting or an annual town meeting, and that can be followed by inclusion in a ballot," Town Administrator Gina Dario said.

Siegars advised that if the question goes to a ballot first with a fixed project budget, that amount can't be changed for a subsequent special town meeting vote.

"In our discussions, there are committee members who are willing to stay on if you wanted to continue the committee or appoint to new one, who have volunteered to be involved with any public information sessions to try to answer the questions with the idea that that they would also explore further and work with Gina and town counsel on specifically what the question should be for a special town meeting, and if, if warranted a subsequent ballot vote," he reported.

Chairman Michael Murphy echoed the former committees' arguments that the town can't explore grants and financing until it has approved an amount.

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