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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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Dalton Green Committee Recommends Consultant for Action Plan

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee overwhelmingly recommended having Blue Strike Environmental as the town's consultant for its Climate Action Plan during its meeting on Monday. 
 
The town issued a request for proposals on March 27 and received two responses: one from Blue Strike Environmental, a Monterey, Calif., company, and the other from Capsus, an international firm based in Mexico. 
 
The committee wants to develop a climate action plan to achieve net zero by 2050 by seeking strategies to decrease the town's dependence on fossil fuels for homes, businesses, municipal facilities, and vehicles. 
 
The plan should be detailed enough, so the town knows what it needs to do and the timing to complete each subproject on time, the request for proposals said. 
 
During the meeting, committee members numerically rated the consulting firms based on the following categories: relevant experience, staffing plan and methodology, ability to complete projects on time, and proposed plan evaluation. Bluestrike's rating was four times higher across all criteria. 
 
Now that the committee has rated the second part of the bidding process, the bidders will submit the estimated cost of the project. 
 
The contract will be awarded to the firm offering the most "advantageous proposal" that takes into consideration all evaluation criteria and price. 
 
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