Clinton narrows split tax rate
Photo | Grant Welker
High Street in Clinton
Clinton's tax rate puts a heavier burden on commercial and industrial property owners, but the gap is being narrowed.
The Clinton Board of Selectmen voted Dec. 2 to narrow the split rate by 2 percentage points, to its lowest rate yet. The new rates are $15.94 per $1,000 in valuation for residential properties and $27.10 for commercial and industrial properties.
The split between the two uses has gone down 15 percentage points since 2015, according to Chairman Sean Kerrigan. In 2018, the board adopted a policy of lowering the split by 2 percentage points each year in an effort to move slowly toward a single rate.
Clinton is one of 15 Central Massachusetts communities, along with Auburn and Worceser, among others, to tax residential and commercial properties at different rates. The policy dates back to a 1980s Massachusetts law allowing municipalities to impose different tax rates, with the business tax rate usually significantly higher. Like Clinton, a number of communities with the split tax rate have made efforts to bring them together back to a single tax rate. Fitchburg, in 2019, eliminated its dual tax rate in favor of a single one for all property owners.
The Worcester City Council voted Tuesday night to move in the opposite direction as Clinton, putting a slightly heavier burden on commercial and industrial properties, who already pay about twice as much as residential owners do. Fiscal 2021 commercial tax rates for Worcester were set at $36.20 per $1,000 assessed valuation, and residential rates were set at $16.28 per $1,000 assessed valuation. The changes represent a $1.04 increase and 72 cent decrease per $1,000, respectively.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments