Board of Assessors

Overview

New Legislation:

SOLAR Laws have changed and will go into effect on June 24, 2021. Please read the following and refer to the laws noted: 

New Solar Legislation* sets in place new criteria for a system to be considered tax-exempt:

Produces 125% or less of energy needed (includes contiguous or other property owned with that community), or is a 25kw or less system

If a system does not meet either of these criteria, the applicant can do a PILOT. An authority to connect notification certificate should be submitted as documentation to prove tax-exempt eligibility unless otherwise noted on the building permit documents.

 If a system does not meet the exempt criteria or does not execute a PILOT, it would be taxable.

 *Chapter 8 of the Acts of 2021 (sections 61, 62, 63, 97, 98) signed March 26, 2021 – goes into effect 90 Days from signing or June 24, 2021

Income & Expense Forms: 

Income & Expense forms will be mailed on 2/1/2022 to all Commercial & Industrial property owners. The forms are due by 4/5/2022. The form can be found above in the documents list. All commercial and industrial property owners are requested to fill out the information to help determine market values for the community. Those that do not complete the forms are subject to a fine. Even if the property is fully owner-occupied, the Board requests that the expenses section of the form is completed and "owner-occupied" clearly written on the form.

Tax Rate:

The tax rate is the town’s budget divided by the total town’s taxable valuation. The town’s budget is a product of Town meeting appropriations required for services, capital expenditures, equipment, etc. These appropriations are adjusted by revenue received by the town and other expenditures. The Tax Rate for Fiscal Year 2022 is $17.42.

TAX RATE HISTORY

Responsibilities

The Board of Assessors is the local agency responsible for the assessment and the administration of all local taxes provided for by the General Laws of the Commonwealth. The mission of the Board of Assessors is to ‘‘truly and impartially, according to its best skill and judgment, assess and apportion all such property taxes and neither overvalue nor undervalue any property subject to taxation’’ - Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 41, Section 29.

Supervision

The Board is supervised in its administration of local taxation by the Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services, as provided by Chapter 58 of the General Laws. Among other duties, the Division of Local Services reviews the Board’s assessment procedures every five years in order to certify that property is being assessed at its full cash value. Every five years the Department of Revenue audits the Board of Assessors’ records and procedures for certification. The Department of Revenue’s last certification of the Board of Assessors’ records and procedures was done for the Fiscal Year 2020.