WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The median-valued home in town can expect to see a 6.3 percent property tax increase in fiscal year 2026.

 

That is one of the takeaways from a presentation the Select Board will hear on Monday evening from Principal Assessor Chris Lamarre.

 

Lamarre will be in front of the board for its annual tax classification hearing.

 

Each year, the board faces a number of decision points about how to distribute the tax levy in the town of 7,600.

 

Historically, the Select Board has gone along with staff recommendations to not adopt a number of provisions in Massachusetts General Law, including the split tax rate, which would charge commercial property at a higher rate than residential property, as is done in some municipalities.

 

The presentation from Lamarre and his predecessor each year includes a look at tax trends in town, including the rate of new growth to the tax base.

 

Stagnation in that base – the total property value over which the levy is distributed – along with a jump in the levy itself leads to a higher tax rate and greater impact to property owners in the year that began on July 1.

 

The levy, or the amount to be raised in taxation to support the spending approved by May's annual town meeting, is up by $1.3 million, from $20.6 million to $21.9 million, a jump of 5.8 percent.

 

That is the largest increase in the levy in at least five years. The second highest jump was 4.35 percent in 2023, according to data supplied by Lamarre.

 

The tax base, meanwhile, has seen its lowest increase in new growth during that five-year span.

 

For FY26, the town has $208,166 in “new growth,” defined as new construction, renovations, additions, subdivisions, etc.

 

Last year, the new growth figure was $270,143. Two years ago, it was a whopping $651,082.

 

New growth and assessments drive changes in the size of the tax base, which is up 3.2 percent from FY25 to FY26, from $1.49 billion to $1.54 billion.

 

A nearly 6 percent increase in the levy and a 3.2 percent increase in the tax base yields a projected tax rate that is up 2.9 percent, from $13.80 per $1,000 of property value in FY25 (which ended on June 30) to $14.20 in the current fiscal year. Over the last several years, Williamstown's tax rate had fallen from a 10-year high of $18.05 in FY19.

 

The tax rate is not official until the Select Board takes its votes and the Department of Public Revenue subsequently reviews Lamarre's submission to Boston.

 

Of immediate concern to homeowners, of course, is not so much the tax rate as the tax collected. The rate can rise, fall or stay the same while a tax bill remains constant or goes in the opposite direction because of changes in a home's assessed value.

 

In Williamstown, the median home value – the point at which half the homes are assessed higher and half are assessed lower – is $454,350 for FY26. That is an increase of 3.2 percent from FY25's $439,100 median value.

 

The tax bill for that hypothetical median priced home is projected to be $6,440 in FY26, up by $380, or 6.27 percent, from FY25.

 

Last year, the increase in tax bill for a median-valued home was up by just $74 (1.23 percent) from FY24.

 

Of long-term concern for town hall is the projected change in Williamstown's excess levy capacity in FY26.

 

For at least 10 years, the excess levy capacity – the difference between what Williamstown is allowed to raise through taxation without a Proposition 2-½ override vote and what it actually raises each year – has trended upward alongside the levy itself.

 

In FY17, the excess levy capacity was $1.03 million, or 6.3 percent of the levy itself. In FY25, the excess levy capacity was $3.3 million, or 16.2 percent of the $20.6 million levy.

 

For FY26, the excess levy capacity is expected to fall to $2.7 million, a drop of 19 percent in the size of the excess capacity, which would be just 12.3 percent of the FY26 levy.

 

Town officials say both the shrinking excess levy capacity and the hike in property tax bills can be traced to two things: rising costs for municipal services and negligible new growth in the tax base.

 

Members of the town's Finance Committee have been ringing the alarm bell for years about stagnation in the tax base.

 

As recently as its July 15 meeting, members of the Fin Comm talked about the need for growth both in the residential and commercial sectors.

 

"One thing the comprehensive plan came up with on the task list for the Planning Board is we have a subdivision bylaw which, I'm told by lawyers in this business, means we actually can't build subdivisions more than eight houses, basically,” Fin Comm Chair Fred Puddester said.

 

"The comprehensive plan identified that as a problem for development, and the Planning Board has hired a consultant, and they're working on that right now. So, hopefully, if they can draw up a new subdivision plan, it will provide more certainty for someone who wants to build.

 

"But if we, as a community, continue to threaten to sue people who want to build houses in town, they won't build houses in town. They'll go somewhere where they're more welcome. Part of the answer, in my mind, is us as a community."

 

Melissa Cragg noted that Williamstown generates less in commercial and industrial property tax revenue than do similar communities and has, “an opportunity to generate more in the way of things like hotel/motel, meals revenue from sources other than property taxes.”

 

Suzanne Stinson noted that a rising commercial tax base would help the community in a number of ways.

 

"The [discussion] about non-residential property also speaks to whether or not there is any diversification of job opportunities,” Stinson said. "All of the things we're talking about here speak to whether we have a sustainable, healthy town. Can people get employment? ... We don't have employment. We don't have employment that would draw people here.

 

“And we don't have those sorts of opportunities outside of our wonderful and robust not-for-profits. Those are great, but it is not, I guess, enough. If we had the opportunity to diversify our property tax base so it could go beyond the residential, I think that would have several different benefits."