Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce comes out against CPA ballot question
Photo | Timothy Doyle
Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce headquarters
The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce on Monday formalized its opposition to Community Preservation Act ballot question No. 5 in November’s election, which would impose a 1.5% surcharge on property taxes in order to raise funds for community housing, open space and parks, and historic preservation.
“Here in the city of Worcester we have the eighth highest commercial tax rate already,” Alex Guardiola, the chamber’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said on the chamber’s weekly television show, Chamber Exchange, “We have a surplus of money on the state level from the federal dollars. So we don’t believe that 2022 is the year to add more taxes to both our residents and our businesses.”
The chamber’s opposition statement says the organization supports the types of initiatives the CPA would pay for, but wants the City of Worcester to use the money already available for those projects. Guardiola and chamber President and CEO Timothy Murray cited the $146 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds the City has received, plus the $2 billion in unspent ARPA funds at the state level as ways to pay for projects.
“Let’s use what we’ve got before we hit people in the wallet,” Murray said on Chamber Exchange.
The chamber cautioned the increase would affect businesses who lease space because commonly triple-net leases require renters to pay increases in property taxes.
According to a Monday press release from the chamber, the surcharge would add $604.58 to the average Worcester business property tax bill. The independent nonprofit Worcester Regional Research Bureau, in its August report on the question, said the median commercial property owner would owe $174.23. Larger businesses drive up the average versus the median, which is the midpoint of all commercial property surcharges.
To find out how much you or your business would owe, you can use the WRRB’s online tool and access the report on the organization’s website.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments