Board of Assessors

Overview

Income & Expense Forms 

Income & Expense forms will be mailed on 2/3/2020 to all Commercial & Industrial property owners. The forms are due by 4/6/2020. 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 2020 is $17.83.

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 were done for Fiscal Year 2020.