The owners of single-family homes will likely see a slight increase in their residential property tax bills for Fiscal Year 2023, while owner-occupants of condominiums and owners of two- and three-family homes should see a slight decrease in their tax bills.
The City Council held a public hearing Monday night to discuss the proposed 2023 tax rates, the minimum residential factor, and a 35 percent residential exemption for homeowners.
Following the short public hearing, the City Council voted to approve the minimum residential factor and the residential exemption for homeowners.
“I did a pretty detailed presentation to the council two weeks ago about the tax rate and its implications for the residents of Chelsea,” said City Manager Thomas Ambrosino. “It’s generally good news for residential taxpayers in this particular tax year.”
With the council approval and pending department of revenue certification, the residential tax rate will be $12.41 per $1,000 of valuation and the commercial rate will be $24.92.
“This will result in a reduction of the average tax bill for owner-occupants of condominiums, two family homes and three family homes, and a very small increase for owner-occupants of single family homes,” said Ambrosino.
The 35 percent exemption on residential property taxes is the maximum amount allowed by statute, and will provide the fullest possible tax relief to owner-occupants in the city, stated Ambrosino. The residential exemption reduces the tax bill by excluding a portion of the residential property value from taxation.
The residential tax shift is also the maximum allowed by law, and puts a greater burden on commercial and industrial properties.
“The city has historically always voted, by virtue of adopting a minimum residential factor that results in a 175 percent shift, to transfer to commercial and industrial properties the maximum amount of the tax levy allowed by law,” said Ambosino. “I recommend the same this year.”
In a fairly brisk meeting on a holiday week, the only other business before the council was two letters from Ambrosino requisition residency requirement waivers for two new senior project manager hires in the Department of Housing and Community Development, Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang and Anna Bury.
Councilor-At-Large Damali Vidot congratulated District 5 Councilor for her state representative victory earlier in the month as the first city-wide state representative for Chelsea.
Garcia thanked her supporters and volunteers and said she looked forward to working hard for the residents of Chelsea and Everett.