WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Property owners will pay nearly a dollar more per $1,000 of assessed value in the current fiscal year under a tax classification proposal that goes to the Select Board on Monday evening.

 

According to a memo prepared by town Assessor Christopher Lamarre, the FY27 tax rate will be $15.16 per $1,000 of property value, an increase of 96 cents, or 6.8 percent, from the $14.20 per $1,000 property owners paid in the fiscal year that ended on June 30.

 

The increase is because of a 9.12 percent hike in the levy based on the budget and fiscal articles approved for FY27 at May's annual town meeting.

 

In FY26, the town collected $21.9 million from property taxes; this year, it needs to collect $24.1 million to pay its bills, a rise of $2.2 million.

 

That is by far the largest hike in the last 10 years — the period covered by data readily available on the town's website. In FY26, levy grew by 5.8 percent, following an eight-year period where the largest jump was 5.52 percent in 2018.

 

At the same time, the town continued to see growth rate in the tax base that does not keep up with rising costs. In FY27, "new growth" is pegged at $18.2 million, yielding just $258,004 in new tax revenue — far below the $2.2 million in needed revenue.

 

The total of taxable property in town in FY27 is $1.6 billion.

 

While the levy ($24.1 million) is up by more than 9 percent, the tax rate is up by a little less than 7 percent because of increased property values. The median value of a single-family home in town in FY27 is $468,400, up by $14,900, or 3.3 percent from the FY26 value of $453,500.

 

That hypothetical median-priced home will have a tax bill of $7,101, up from $6,440 in FY26, an increase of $661, or 10.3 percent.

 

The median-priced commercial property in town is currently assessed at $479,700, up by $23,600, or 5.2 percent, from FY26. Its tax bill is up by $795, or 12.3 percent, to $7,272 in the current fiscal year.

 

The interplay of the tax levy hike and slow growth in the tax base leads to a second consecutive year with a drop in the town's excess levy capacity, bringing Williamstown closer to a Proposition 2 1/2 override, as officials have been warning for a couple of years. The excess levy capacity for FY27 is $1.3 million, a 52 percent drop from the $2.7 million excess levy capacity in FY26. As recently as two years ago, the "buffer" between the town and its Proposition 2 1/2 levy limit was $3.35 million.

 

One task for the Select Board on Monday evening is to decide whether to shift more of the property tax burden onto the commercial class. The commonwealth allows the town a maximum shift of 1.5.

 

Historically, and again this year, the Board of Assessors has recommended a residential factor of 1.0, or a single tax rate for all property in town, in part because of the town's relatively small commercial tax base, a split tax rate would have little impact on residential tax bills.

 

Other decision points for the board on Monday evening include whether to adopt an Open Space discount, a Residential Exemption or Small Commercial Exemption. In recent years, the Select Board has followed the assessors' recommendation to vote down all three measures; the residential exemption generated protracted discussion by the board in 2023.