Select Board: December 2, 2025

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:00 You’re the one that comes up. All right, let’s call the meeting of December 2nd to order. Now. This meeting is being recorded. Is there any public comment? We’re gonna do general public comment. If you have questions or comments about the tax classification hearing, we’ll do it at that time. Anybody online

0:19 or public comment we got, we will close public comment, open up tax specification hearing Todd Laramie, assistant Assessor, and John Kelly Assessor, if you guys wanna come on up. Yep. Thank you gentlemen for coming. Thank You for having us. Welcome Jan. Thank you. Know, I’m going to share the presentation as you give it. Okay? Yep. Hopefully you guys are not intimidated by this large crowd. You really packed him in tonight. We did. Yep. Exactly. This is actually big for us.

0:48 Okay. So I have, uh, this prepared document, which I think you’ve all received. Yep. So I think I’m just gonna go off of that and, um, we’ll go through it. We’ll go through all of our options on, you know, laying out what you guys are here to do to vote on. And then we’ll, we’ll, I guess go down the line of vote each, uh, item. Okay. So the purpose of the classification hearing is for you, the select board to determine the allocation of the local property tax to be born by the Ford classes of real property. And, uh, class five personal property for fiscal year 26. Deciding the allocation, the select board must adopt a residential factor. The residential factors used to determine the percentage of the tax labor, the levy that is applied to these class of real and personal property. The board of assessors will then apply these percentages

1:34 to the in individual classes. So the thi first thing to vote on would be the residential exemption. This, uh, exemption would allow a reduction in valuation of each qualifying residential parcel of up to 35% of the average residential valuation. Because the adoption of such a factor is to be born within the residential class. The net effect of the residential exemption is to lower tax bills for all residential property value, less than the mean valuation, and increase tax bills for all residential property value, value greater than the mean valuation. Such an exemption places an unjustified official tax burden on the other residences by slightly decreasing the value of those properties under the median assessed value that are owner occupied and ship the burden to all properties over the

2:19 median assessed value. Whether they are, uh, are owner occupied or not, uh, rental properties, vacations, homes, et cetera. Um, so as almost all residential parcels are owner occupied here in town, there’s little to no benefit adopting a residential residential exemption. Therefore, the Board of assessors does not recommend this exemption. And the next, uh, to both do we want To discuss that and, but why don’t we go through the whole thing. Okay. Alright. Um, the commercial exemption, similar to the residential exemption just discussed, it shifts the burden within the commercial class from small businesses to larger ones. It works by allowing an exemption of up to 10% the value of class three commercial parcels that are occupied by businesses with an average employment, you know,

3:07 more than 10 people, um, and valuations of less than a million dollars. So since most businesses here in Marvel that are small, there would be little to no relief in this. In these taxes, uh, the Board of Assessors does not all let them open. Space discount establishment of this class of property responsibility assessors includes land maintained and open or natural condition that contributes to the benefit and enjoyment of the public. Open space does not include land taxable permanent conservation restrictions for use to produce income. The Board of Assessors has determined there are no vacant land parcels in Marblehead meeting. These, this criteria would therefore provide no taxpayer relief. Therefore, the Board of assessors does not recommend an open space discount. And the last to discuss would be the selection

3:53 of the residential factor. Um, This allows certain, uh, communities at local option to shift just as much of the tax burden to commercial industry and personal properties as so as to maintain the most favored residential share. Since the town of adoption of the classified system, adoption of a residential factor by the select board is required for the purpose of determining the percentage of the tax burden to be born by each class of property factor of one results in a singular uniform tax rate for all classes of property, while adoption of any other factual will result in both a lower residential and uh, rate, and a higher commercial rate than would be realized under the uniform tax approach. Dual tax structures are typically found in municipalities with significant percentages of commercial, industrial, and personal property.

4:39 Um, you know, bigger Cities Sale and Beverly Linn, they all have, uh, split tax rates. However, only roughly 4% of the total taxable valuation of Marblehead is comprised of commercial, industrial, and personal property valuation. For this reason, the board of assessors recommends it to select board, maintain a single tax rate by voting for residential. Any follow Ups on Still Clear or we go through the presentation here, then we can ask questions since we go along. This has been pretty consistent, uh, in my experience through through time session. Another year’s gone by another year, gone by, uh, same recommendation.

5:20 Are you doing the, uh, the, on The presentation? Um, so I mean, I think we just sort of went through that whole, we can go through it now and, Yeah. Mm-hmm. So you talked about the first couple pages, um, Residential factor, The space, made it make sense to just start with the first pie chart. Okay. And just sort of talk about That’s all right. With everybody, sort of Yeah. Redo that and just sort of talk about the, the breakdown. Backing up what you talked.

5:55 So, you know, I’ve only been here for just over a year now, but looking, um, back at the history of everything, I, I think it’s pretty consistent that the town of Marblehead is primarily residential. It seems to be roughly 95% of, uh, the assessed valuations here in town. Um, fluctuates a little bit, but I mean, that’s primarily why, um, you know, uh, the board recommends, uh, you know, the, the whole process of what we just went through. So, um, so the 9.4 billion is based on this year valuations, correct? Yeah. This is all fiscal 26. Yep. Uh, so, you know, we were just in a certification year, a five year kind of reval.

6:41 Um, every community goes through it. Um, ‘cause what happened in 24, a lot of that work was done, um, kind of reset and land tables, uh, building tables. It’s just basically kind of an audit on your system. The state kind of goes through your methodology, looks at, uh, you know, you submit your sales information and your values every year. Um, but after that, on that fifth year, they take a deeper dive into your methodology and just make sure that, you know, you’re adhering to their standards of what’s going on.

7:13 Cool. Move on to that.

7:22 So this the detailed numbers Yeah. You can see the back. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean the, um, you know, as most people know, the sales market, not only in Marblehead, but just, uh, all over the East Coast anyway, new England, um, has been crazy. It seems to be, you know, mellowing out a little bit. So these fiscal 26 values are based on calendar 24 sales. Um, calendar 24 sales. Were pretty vigorous along with 23. Um, 25 seems to be, you know, kind of in the same vein. Um, and, uh, maybe, you know, I’m not a, in the real estate market, Dan could speak to that, but I think it’s probably slowly leveling up.

8:10 And I know it’s sort of a, you know, the, this is the, the time where things slow down, um, typically. But, um, I just think that even looking at our proposed 26 values and seeing things that have sold, um, since we set these values, kind of should, there’s a good indicator of our methodology where we’re at in the state of the market right now.

8:37 Any s on, on that stuff? Mm-hmm. And it’s pretty self-explanatory. Yeah. Things are going up. Um, you know, the industrial class in this town is very minimal. I think probably Toyota Way area and maybe down by the waterfront, just kind of, oh, that’s available. Um, this is just, you know, oh, we should put this together. This is just sort of a little timeline, you know, kind of a, a, a look at what’s gonna happen since 22. Things are continuing to move up. I mean, if you look at from 22 to 26, that’s pretty significant from 7 billion up to almost 10,

9:24 not a, not a long time. So values, values in the town are skyrocket, but it’s everywhere. Yeah.

9:40 You can see that. So Breaks a little more. Yeah. So this is just, just my, you know, single family’s condos. This is all the residential class right here at the top through the apartments.

9:55 It seems to be where the majority of the growth is

10:01 Investing. Interesting. New growth, uh, slide. And it was pretty significant drop off after all the, uh, COVID. Yeah. You know, and it looks like there was a lot of commercial growth there. So this was sort of before me, obviously. I’m not sure what happened here. Yeah. Prior. Um, you know, there’s still, so the growth works on

10:24 the calendar year, so to speak. So, you know, we’re able to pick up growth through the end of, um, June before the new fiscal year starts. There’s a ton of projects still going on, um, okay. That are just still outta stands, so we’ll pick them up next year. Got it. Yep. Can I ask as question? Sure. One question I, you know, said is a nine iron in my house. I got like five tear downs when they’re completed. W when will they hit the books? When, when we’ve gone from a $700,000 property to 3 million, how if, if that house is occupied tomorrow, when will we see that Happen? So assessments are of January 1st, so fiscal 26th, it’s January 1st of 25.

11:11 What was there? So in fiscal 26, which we’re in, like, I know the houses that you’re talking about. And, um, you know, there were houses January 1st and they didn’t get torn down or remodeled or whatever until springtime or whatever. So we’re not looking till, you know, fiscal 27. Okay. Um, for those to at least, you know, we’ll get on the books again, calendar 26 for fiscal 27 in July. We’ll get those on the books and we’ll see some of that growth next year. So some of those changes in valuations. So, so if a house just closed today, we might not see that as in until July of 26th, maybe. Um, more like January of 27. Wow. Okay.

11:56 Just everything, you know, it’s just, I Yeah. I, I know always looking back, I, I know we’re looking back and I know this is, it’s probably all happened by Steve

12:06 Was a year and a half down. Yeah. What happened? Yeah. And When you see the, So the, the reason I mentioned that, and I know it’s different, but when I look at the lag, I’m not necessarily thinking this is gonna continue down, you know, based on observations. Who knows? I mean, that’s, It looks like the averages are, you know, roughly between, you know, three. And it looks like some of the stuff was up fours on growth, 400,000. Um, you know, it’s just all determined on what’s going on in town. It’s, it’s not like any other community where there’s just constant building or like, you know, bigger communities where the cities say, where you’re demolishing a block and you’re putting up a massive building. This is just, you know, a residential spot here.

12:52 Like what’s going on now is they’re tearing down, you know, $600,000 houses and redoing them and so on. Yeah. For God knows what, I mean, I’ve seen $4 million on some of these house. Yeah. I mean, I, I don’t wanna sidetrack, but Yep. 10 years ago, Marblehead used to be you old house’s body was renovated. Now Kyle Siegel’s house. Right. You’ve gone by there. Yeah. Yeah. There’s like a $5,000 sign that says coming spring of 2026. Like, it doesn’t look like Kyle Siegel’s Red House. No, I know. Anyhow. Amazing. I’m Assuming if you look at other towns on that, this is typical, you had probably a big back here. A lot of growth during COVID. Yeah. Right. And now it’s starting to trend down, especially with what’s going on in the economy. Yeah. But this isn’t atypical. I think so. Yeah. Well, you should get the

13:38 Gary School coming up. Yeah. Well, that’s all there. So the Gary School just finally came on. Perfect. Um, and then there’s, uh, what is it, 89 Front Street, maybe that old, uh, yeah, it was an apartment building that’s got converted. We’ll get that next year. And there’s just a ton of other, you know, tear downs that, um, are now multimillion dollar homes that we can picking up. But that’s sort of what you get. Um, we have Patriot do our growth, and I think what happened too on this year was I kind of came in at the end of it. So I’m sort of picking up the pieces and trying to figure out what’s falling through the cracks, if anything. Um, you know, I’ve been in another community where there’s a ton of tear downs and they take over a calendar year to, to build these houses. So you gotta track along, you know, you get well, and

14:25 before the end of June, see where it is if it’s not complete, and then get out there next year. And, you know, without the assessor in the office last year, I’m finding that some of that stuff didn’t get out and get looked at again. So, um, is there a value put on the property mid-construction? Yeah. Yeah. So you can put a percentage complete factor on that. Gotcha. Um, so what you try to do is just anticipate what it’s gonna be and then, um, you know, grade wise and, and then you put a percent complete and the state provides kind of a breakdown on how to do that. That’s what I ad adhere to. And then, um, and then we leave it there until next year we’ll go with it again and see where it’s at. So, um, we’ll see, you know, again, it’s a small community with sort of, we are what we are here,

15:10 and it is changing a little bit in the sense that there are more, not just renovations, but, you know, kind of rebuilds. So, um, see where it all lands. But again, it’s residential. You know, we Have seen a decrease in the number of building permits. Mm-hmm. Now, the value, maybe there’s fewer permits, larger value projects don’t know, but, but as far as the number of permits is definitely down. And we, we were tracking, you know, looking at the history with the COVID, everybody was doing, you know, everybody was staying in the house they had, and they were building home offices and home homeschool classroom. So, uh, there was a huge increase in building permits and for so many communities, like correlating increase in new growth.

15:56 What has happened now is the, the building permits are down. And I’ve looked around at other communities and, and there are new growth numbers are coming down also. So I think we’re gonna be, especially with the, you know, the tariffs putting on lumber and steel, all those things is gonna suppress sort of a lot of that construction. And we’ll feel That. I, I still think you’d be surprised. I mean, capturing the value of $150,000 Yep. Kitchen versus captioning value of, you know, $2 million in construction. And it appears from my observations in the neighborhood, no problem with money. It’s just not, I’m sorry, but some people, for some people, I’m not talking about myself, but No, you’re

16:43 Just a farmer. That’s right. Getting big money for those pumpkins.

16:51 All right. Do you wanna move on?

16:55 This is just another summary of what you talked about before. Yeah. So you’re up a little bit, and I think your median, it’s just the median now in Marblehead is just over a million dollars. Yeah. I know some people like to look at medium versus Yeah. It is a better indicator. ‘cause you know, the values do, you know, like even the average is high. Um, but there’s certainly, um, you know, homes that are way above that. So, and it is hard to really find an, an exact medium because, you know, we, I rely on extract running the spy a out of our, you know, out of our software. Mm-hmm. Um, I’ve talked to other towns, other assessors who I’m friendly with, and, you know, there’s, I’m going forward here and try to find maybe a better, more exact way. It’s in the ballpark. Okay.

17:40 But, um, you know, if it’s the exact middle, I have no idea. Sure. But it’s been done consistently the same way. So it’s a good data point year over year. So there could be a better way to Fix that. We’re gonna be upgrading our software system anyway going forward here. So that might give us a better, you know, a couple better handles on how to extract some of this information. Okay, sure. Maybe I can, in that vein, I know concurrent with the audit, there’s been a lot of work you’ve been doing, and as you’ve, uh, you stepped into this in, into your role and, uh, I’m just, uh, wonder what, you know, what you would point out in terms of better being able to tabulate the valuations, getting broader, you know,

18:26 updated evaluations and what you’ve done to kind of the tables and, uh, and databases that you’ve, that that we’ve been maintaining and you know, how that’s what, what you’ve been doing. Uh, yeah. With regard to that, because I, yeah. A couple years ago. Well, I think it started, um, so we just, you know, like I said, we just went through a five year certification. One of the, um, you know, the punch list items for them for the status. They require us to, um,

18:54 put our values, I think it’s five days, you know, publicly display our values, allow people transparency, allow people to go out and take a look at ‘em if and if they, um, have questions. Which, you know, that people, I had, uh, quite a few people coming in, but prior to that last, this time last year, um, when we weren’t in our rebell year, our board decided it was, you know, probably good practice to make those values public as well. And that’s what we did. We put ‘em on, uh, put ‘em on the website and put ‘em out here, give people a chance to thump through ‘em. It was all, um, by, you know, by your street alphabetized. So it was very easy to find and take a look and see where your value, your proposed value was gonna be. And a lot of people to come in and talk to me. And I feel that, you know, hundreds of people I’m sure. And right. I think when you, um, you allow people that

19:43 availability to come in and talk to me or talk to our office or talk to the board, whoever it is, and give them a better understanding of the process, the methodology, how you arrived at these values, and, um, look at their property individually. And I could even say, all right, well, you know what? I would recommend you file for nabe because I see something that, you know, possibly could be, um, a little off. So, um, you know, we did that again this year. I had, you know, just a handful of people that came in. Um, but they were appreciative of the access to the office. And, um, you know, hopefully, um, like I said, looking at, you know, it’s easier for me ‘cause I’m from this town, so for me to drive around or, you know, and I’ve been in other communities where I’m like, all right, where is this?

20:29 What is that property? But I can kind of look at a picture of something I know exactly where it is. Yeah. And, um, I can speak to it, I know where it is. I know, um, kind of the neighborhood or details about that neighborhood. So it’s easier for me to do the job that way. And, um, it’s easier for me to speak to these homeowners when I can give concrete information on, you know, I’ve got people still complaining from this past year about, um, their values for going to the Appellate tax board, and I know different neighborhoods and why they’re valued differently, and I can explain that to them. So, um, you know, it’s helpful that way. I just think, you know, open door policy, well, I want people to come in and talk to us and get their, their answer questions answered is helpful and that’s huge. Yeah. Yeah. You know, just give them the knowledge

21:14 to understand what we do. And that’s what everyone at the end of the conversation, while I appreciate that and that makes a lot of sense, and, um, you know, going forward I’ll keep that in mind. So, um, that’s sort of been, you know, the process of it. So, okay. Now, now for your methodology, perhaps you could just refresh my memory of kind of how that’s kind of the, how, how you guys go about it, whether you’re using comps or, you know, or, uh, you know, private transactions. Yep. So, you know, um, Assess values obviously, Or so valuation is, you know, direct sales comps. Yep. It can be the cost approach. Um, yep. Or it could be the income approach. And typically, you know, unless you’ve got obviously an income driven property, then that, that, um, will not be used.

21:59 Like, like we just talked about the cost of materials right now. So, you know, what, what in today’s market is it gonna cost you to build a replica home? Less depreciation? And, you know, that’s through the roof, the cost. So yeah. So it’s a little bit, that’s why we hire Patriots to help us out because they know the cost of the general area, and they use cost manuals to do that stuff. Um, so sales, you know, it’s direct sales from comparable style homes, direct sales from the neighborhood all plays into it. And, um, you know, like I said, again, at the, at the end of the calendar year after we make our adjustments, it’s good to see sales coming in after that to see how we did with our, our methodology and whether we’re, you know, exactly trending the way we’re supposed to be.

22:45 And, you know, there’s still, it’s, it’s real estate. It’s not an exact number, it’s not an exact thing. So yeah. But somebody will pay X four, you know, the next guy won’t. So, um, it’s never gonna be exact. We just try to, I try to get out, I’ve been to a ton of houses this year between, um, the abatements that we had, I if, you know, it got to the point where I had to pick and choose. Some of them were just, the onus is on the homeowner to, um, prove us wrong, so to speak. And, um, if it was just because, you know, they thought it was too high, then I would still look at it. And if I thought there was something that could be adjusted, I’d call them and try to inspect it. If, if it was a pretty, you know, pretty much a no-brainer

23:32 that would, you could get, that’s that assessed value in today’s market all day long. And there was nothing that I saw that I, you know, could do, then I just, you know, let it go and moved on. Um, So on a year to year basis, if you’re not, I mean, assuming the ins inspections aren’t done every year for every property, are you, are you applying a factor that takes, you know, the, the value up a little bit, uh, based on that? Yeah. So know, yeah. So you, you’re looking at your sales from whatever the, the previous, you know, the, the sales window is on your analysis and then, you know, if, if there’s an adjustment to be made. So what do you want to do? And that’s why, you know, we got in trouble here a couple years ago, was you look at the ba, you look at the building, and what I do is, all right, do we have a graded correctly

24:18 in the correct condition, the correct bathrooms, the correct, you know, all the, all the data on the house, what it sell for, it’s sold for eight, we’re at, you know, seven or six or whatever. So clearly something’s off. And then, um, as long as I have the data on the property accurate, and then we start looking at those sales and how they fall in line, and maybe it’s the, you know, the base rate, the cost per square foot of, of a certain house. So if it’s a, you know, colonials, if one colonial sells or all those, they affect every other colonial in town. And same with where that house was sold, that deals with the neighborhood and the land value. So, yeah. Um, you know, that’s the analysis that we do every year. And, um, if there’s adjustments to be made, there’s adjustments to be made to, to bring it up and,

25:06 And the coverage in terms, I mean, you know, I, I know that’s probably, you’re, you’re out there hustling every day to, you know, to get the abatements, uh, inspected as well as, uh, you know, just doing general. Yeah, Yeah. You know, so, so if you were to describe how many inspections you do as a percentage of the overall, you know, stock, you know, how does, how does that work? So the state mandates every property needs to be looked at at least once every 10 years. Yeah. So when we just went through our certification, we’re way behind. And that was one of the things that he kind of let us slide on, was, sure enough, you know, you’ve got a bunch to look at for next year, and I’m gonna give you another year to, to catch up, look at the 2015 stuff. Um, it’s, nothing’s been looked at.

25:52 And then, um, you know, it’s just one of the mandates for our certification this year going forward. And they’ll follow up with us next year and see how we’re doing. And there’s a report, you know, you’ll, you, you, you date every visit that you go. So you can track who’s been there and kind of what the reason for it was. And then there’s a place to put notes. And, um, I’m encouraging my office to put as many notes as possible. So, you know, whether I’m here in 10 years or, you know, whoever is, can kind of track the process and who’s been there and why they were there. Um, so just information’s key. The more you can kind of put in there, the more helpful it’ll be going forward. And, um, you know, in terms of, you know, how many properties I saw, geez, 500 anyway, you know,

26:39 probably whether I was knocking on doors or, that’s good work, that’s good work I worked my butt off of. And I’m trying to get my, uh, office to do the same. And we’re getting both of, uh, our, um, administrators in there, like our assistant assessor and our clerk to, um, trying to give them the, you know, the base to go out and help our office help to what we’re doing. And then maybe if they, you know, hopefully not, but if they have the skills and wanna go elsewhere and, you know, try to make more money and take a step up the ladder, I encourage that. I wanna give them the skills in the background to do that. So, um, it starts with going out, you know, like we have Patriot looking at our, um, they handle our building permits. So, you know, now that I kind of came in, I, I need to,

27:25 I realize I need to oversee that a little tighter to make sure that, you know, we’re picking up what we’re picking up. And, and it’s a lot of work. It’s, you know, it’s, to be honest, it’s way more busy in more work than I anticipated it. Um, I don’t know why. It’s just, you know, it’s a kind of a big community. There’s a lot going on. You have boats, you have motor vehicle, there’s a lot of people in this community. So it’s just nonstop. And I’ve got, you know, my staff is great. They’re very smart, they’re very efficient. And, um, you know, I’m very fortunate to have to wa have walked into this office with them already, you know, they didn’t know anything. They weren’t from an assessor’s office, they went on the fly too. And then with everything that just happened, they, you know, I can’t speak highly enough of those, how great they are

28:11 and you know, how far they’re coming and coming along and, um, very helpful. So I’m very appreciative. Is, is Patriot responsive to that supervision? Uh, in terms of what? In terms of, you know, perhaps becoming more effective and helping? Yeah. Well you, um, I’m, I’m in constant communication. I, I used to work for them. That’s kind of how I got my foot in the door. So I know some of those guys. So yeah. When the guys that were assigned to Marblehead to do our building permits, I know them when I have a problem with something or if I see something that caught my eye, said, Hey, what’s going on with this? And yeah, they’re, you know, they’re, they’re right on it. So again, it’s helpful for me to be from this town. ‘cause I, I just know of much better than other community that I’ve been in. It’s, it’s very helpful that way. Thank you. Yeah.

28:57 Thank you.

29:01 I would like to add something. Sure. We are so lucky to have this guy. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a great assessor and I don’t know, Victoria, they are terrific. They are great. Wonderful. Great. It is a few times they’ve been in, there’re so helpful and so knowledgeable. Good. It’s, it’s nice to be forward facing. How, how awesome they’re Yeah. Again, you know, if you explain what we’re doing in there to people, they, you know, they feel more comfortable with exactly what’s going on. We’re dealing with finances and, you know, tax bills and one likes to pay ‘em. So if you can give them the foundation on why we arrived where we did, it’s not haphazard. It’s, you know, not an exact methodology, but it, it’s a long behind it.

29:47 Good. Yeah. You know, we’re hopefully in the ballpark. John and I, I just wanted to say, even before I was elected, people would ask me, what should I do about my, uh, assessment. I said, make an appoint with Todd. Go back to go see him. If you still have a problem, let me know. And I haven’t not heard back from one person, which I know I, if they had a problem, so, and I’d eventually see him on the street, I’d go, oh, good. Good. Good, good. Good, good, good. That’s what you want. Yep. So we too much slides that probably the ones you wanna look at. Yeah. Oh, um, you, you were on this one last, which, uh, I’ll better this, this does the calculations if you were to shift off of the single tactic. Great. Yeah. So I have that included in here too.

30:34 I think it kind of got, uh, stopped up a little bit, um, starting on the third page, rolling over onto the fourth. It just shows, you know, at a, um, as a, as a factor of one, we are our proposed, uh, you know, tax rate and then, uh, and increments of 5% going down how that would affect both the residential, um, and then the commercial industrial personal property. And I think this chart really backs up where you said that it doesn’t make sense to go anywhere except for one. Yeah. But even if you went all the way to the one and a half, you know, the residential changes 20 cents. Right. Which is about, you know, a little over $200 per million and a huge burden goes onto the businesses if of, you know,

31:20 almost $4 and 30 cents per thousand, so, you know, per million business. Yeah. So you’re not making really, it’s not making much of a difference. No. By shifting that you not you’re ing is Tax level that you’re covering. I mean, this’s the best chart I’ve seen when you ask about why when you look at the top of the bottom. Yeah. That’s why it doesn’t make sense in it town like Barbara Hood. It didn’t, and you said the key thing, no matter where you went on the, would not change the tax level. Right. That’s number one. And number two is, if I was on the select board in Dans swamp state, I’d think the first one for say to go to 1.5, but it doesn’t make sense yet. But even a city like sale, I think it’s like 1.07 or there, there’s so pretty high up there and it’s making a big difference because, because of the amount that they have Yeah.

32:07 Of, of industrial or commercial. They’re 1.07. Yep. Okay. I just googled that today. I don’t know that off top my head.

32:17 Listen, I I just know ‘em on there. Yeah, thank you. I got all that right in my head. Gimme the town. I’ll give you the number.

32:27 This side is one of the important slides. What’s our pack check? There You go. The one that we all care about. Yeah. Um, so it’s looking like it’s, uh, she’s got, uh, 8 59, like eight, $8 and 60 cents per thousand is what it’s looking like. Um, which is, you know, down considerably from where we are now. Mm-hmm. Now part of that is the high school rolling off makes up a little bit of that, right? I think so I’m assuming high school debt pulled off of that 28 million came off of came Off of that. Yeah. Yeah. Combination of increasing property values, Values was percent Between that levy and your total property values. Right. So as that comes up,

33:12 So both went in the right direct direction to, With that said, we’ve have cap improvements rolling on, but that’s the lowest rate I can actually recall. And actually I can’t recall it being any lower. Can you? No, I can,

33:32 I mean, I think the big thing is, is what does that do to people’s tax bill changes? Right. But it’s on the next page. Yeah. Uh, again, you know, it’s, it’s hard to say ‘cause we’re, depends on what you’re looking at. You’re looking at the, you know, the mean of the median. Um mm-hmm. So if you’re looking at the, you know, if you’re looking at the average, it’s, it’s not much. But if you’re looking at the median value, it’s probably a better indicator of, Well, the median in reality where you have a lower is actually, I don’t know if the stomach changed, but it’s on not, the median went up 5.7 and their average so exact in reality, your median’s going down. Yeah. Right. Your average is gonna go off.

34:17 Well, it’s gonna go, sorry, it’s gonna go up less and less. Right. The median’s gonna go up less and less. Sorry if your average is higher. Yeah.

34:29 And this, I would say, for example, the single family home dollar difference, $74 a four to something, this is a projection based on a current factors now. Right. ‘cause you set the classification now in the spring we set a new budget, which takes effect in in July. Right. So it could be the factors that impact these numbers don’t all synchronize. No, I Know. That’s also what we might borrow. Right. Right. So the numbers are changed, but this is based on the factors as they sit now. Mm-hmm. Right. This is what the impact would be on shopping deficit. So it would not include the say a two point a half percent For the next year. Right.

35:14 Yeah. Because I see single family only going up like 70 bucks or so 80 bucks, which will be more than that in Reality. Right. There are other factors that will come into play later in the whole cycle. Yeah. Ahead than the effect. But this is accounting for that change right now. Yes. It’s a two point a half percent on an average. This is on an average. This is including that two point half. What he’s saying is, is that the lag between now and budget, right. In reality. So in other words, the difference really for that is borrowing. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. It’s only different. So this is, this is, it is a little confusing because of the weight. Um, but if you think about it, how heavy our residential is, where it’s only up by 0.7,

36:01 you could also take into account on the debt rolling off.

36:05 I had that same question. This was a little confusing to me on that. How do we go up by 2.5%? Right? It dropped two point half, which in reality turns into closer 2.7. 2.8 with new growth. With new growth. But it, it is because of the weight of that. Hmm. I’m still gonna see what, I’ll figure it out later. Okay. Does the median chat look a lot different? Yes. This is average median. You should be, this Is a slice of data. Yeah. Right. It’s a little confus. Think About it as a slice of data as an example. Yes. And the example being if you took the average, however you define average single family. Yeah. Average condo, average two family. This is the calculated impact. It’s Basically ti it’s kind of times the tax rate

36:53 times the value, right? So you’re getting decreased, you can decrease the value decrease in the tax rates. Yeah. And you’re getting those margin, right. Those higher this, so like here’s our Yeah. Those average are nothing more than Here’s all the, the glasses broke. Yeah. The glass broken now. So the one-on-ones with the single families, here’s the total parcels, here’s the total value. There’s your opportunity. I mean, that’s all that information that I provided. That’s where that came From. You took all of that and multiply it by a tax rate, it would go by two and a half percent. Right. Because that’s our right Jim, that was my first inclination when I looked at this is hit that. But it is because that averages, right?

37:39 Because every, a lot of that sort out.

37:43 Do we have other questions?

37:46 Um, that I think it’s a great presentation and a lot of good information here and anyone on the board. Otherwise I can open up to the public. No good. Oh, okay. All right. You Can I sit here or do I, Um, the microphone is here, so it should pick you up, right? Yep, yep. Um, Lander eight West T tar. So just a couple questions. Okay. Uh, this as a lead person, um, what is ex what is the, um, first question was what is exempted properties that churches, things like that Town owned churches. Right, exactly. Um, so, you know, then everything gets classified under the state use code and um, whatever those, whatever the ones

38:34 that follow the black. All right. So again, sorry, I I I wanna be able to, something did, is there a way to translate, because I know in the past we’ve translated it to median all fingers to median because it is actually more accurate or more reflective is what we have determined. Is there a way to do that with these charts? Or tell me why we shouldn’t do that. Even like Dan was kind of hinting that median might be more representative. Um, well, I would start with

39:08 the median is what the DOR uses. So a lot of the reporting that we’re doing to the Department of Revenue is based on the median average that folks in marblehead don’t like using. But, but that’s a standard used by DUR. So it’s more of a local flavor to go to media mode, which mean mean, right, right. Trying to remember that Right. Mean, um, in reflection to sort of the, the, the, the disparity and, and and, and property values in different parts of the town. So, so the mean is a DOR approach that assessors are the mean of the mean is what assessors are trained to do

39:56 and to report on mean, see average, Well, the average, the average makes the math a lot easier, right? Yeah. If you’re looking, if you’re looking at specific classes Like stick with the average, we would recommend that we report on the average. I think it makes it easier for you. ‘cause all of these numbers are awfully average and except for one place. So I would, I think we sometimes people, I I think using mean slash average is The median is kind of useful from people’s understanding point of view because it’s kind of, it, it doesn’t have the skew of the high value properties and sounds, so you’re kind of, it’s kind of more representative in some That’s what I was saying. Yeah. But usually you get both statistics, you know, to give you a, so is It possible to get those statistics, um, in this chart? I, I don’t think you have the page. I don’t think you have this page I have, which has both. I know, but maybe Kyle can send that. Yeah. And I’ll fine.

40:43 I was gonna say we’ll hand you both. Yeah. Yeah. Even, even you will give it to Yep. And then, so just so this, again, like trying to around it, the average

40:56 tax, the tax rates going dipping significantly to the lowest that anyone in the room can remember. Good news, right? Well, sure. But the reason tax bills are still going up a little bit is ‘cause property values are higher, correct? Mm-hmm. Okay. And if you look at the whole Right, Levee raise is up, you know, about two and a half, two and a half percent. Right. Which is led by state. Okay. Um, that’s why I feel like the tax rate’s a little deceptive sometimes and rising. Okay. And then can you tell me, um, uh, hearing that it’s the lowest that anyone can remember, what is it, how does it compare to Swamp Scout right now? Or, um, other comparable tabs? Lower Yeah, across the board it’s always swamp spreads high historically. Yeah. But swamps space, pretty good progress.

41:41 Well, swamp squads, their, their values have come up as well. Yeah. Which has pushed down their rate in recent times Among the lowest on them, I’m sure. I think so. I mean, you can, if you go to Patriot Properties or one of those places or just Google it. I mean, I can tell you swamps got, I think is about 11. Don’t go down this, but you can look up sale 13 something. Yeah. In 1285, if you look, you’ll see Hamilton and one of the 0.5 being in the state, I think you need be the lowest if you like. So again, forgive me for my ignorance on this, but when people will say, well, why don’t we just raise the tax rate and then we don’t have to go for overrides and we can fund our schools and we can fix the roofs and we can do roofs, and we can do all that stuff. That, how does that play into this scenario? Could you guys make a higher tax rate prop two

42:27 and a half, half year strained by two and a half? Correct. So, yeah, so all, so all the levy comes from the prop property tax, right? Right. So that is what we’re using that increase is what we’re using to determine, and it can only go, so it can only go up by two and a half percent plus growth. Okay. Got it. So the connection is between the property property value and the levy and the tax rate. Okay. So basically your, your tax rate is the amount of levy you can take. Oh, right. Divided by value. Right. Or value divided by that. So the Town, It’s a, it’s a Portion, the town control that actually makes decisions is the levy, which is ca is the taxes two and a half. Yeah. Right. It’s cap at two and a half. But when you set your budget, you’ll making decisions Yeah.

43:12 Of the levy, the taxes collect right up to the two and a half limit, right? Yes, that’s right. So that’s the only decision The housing market and the commercial market makes decisions on what your values are, right? Yeah. And your tax rate is just a mathematical ratio of the two. Got it. So we don’t control one piece. The market controls the other big piece, right? Right. Because the values are the big, the big 20. Okay. And the rate is simply the, the math or calculation

43:47 0.5% is the calf. Do we ever go less than that? Do we ever raise? We do. You can for us doing it, but it’s collecting less money. So what the way you do that is you really, if you have really good new growth numbers. Yeah. Right? Right. Yeah. And what you’re doing is you’re using the new growth and you’re backing off of your two and a half. Okay. That was, and this is my last question about new growth. So, because I remember the last state of the town was very focused on new growth charter fine about new growth did

44:26 here, it’s, um, so it looks like new growth from 25 to 26 increased. Is that accurate? Yeah. Those, these, these numbers are well actually reported for new growth. And so it’s $83,000 for new, or I don’t know how you Hold On, hold on. 25 to 26. Yes. Are you, I’m looking at that. Yeah. Isn’t your total, so look at your total, what you’re looking at is your commercial, your commercial side. Oh, right. We look at your, look at your total. You gotta add those two together. Yeah. Yeah. So add those two together, and then you’ll see, and you full chart there, we had 287,000 approximately of new growth this year.

45:13 Okay. If you add the 83 and whatever, it’s in the blue. It’s hard to see it. Yeah. If you add that 83 plus the 2 0 4 gives you Right. The 2 0 3 9 gives me about 287. Yeah. Yep. Just on the three. Okay. $287,000 in new growth. That’s it. Across the entire town property. But so you, so you understand new growth is the actual tax levy by property. So if you, so if you take that and divide it by your rate, you can see that the value of new growth. So it’s millions of dollars in improvements and your tax share. Yeah. Okay. So that’s about $3 million of proximally. Of, of, of, of additional, like Jim was talking about, additional construction could be like 30 million.

46:00 Yeah. 30 million. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks. Which I, I honestly, I have 20 million. All, all right. All right. Not himself. It looks like your values are going up, Jim. Let be careful. Right. 30 million. Thank you.

46:16 When do the next tax bills come out and when, like, when will people see this field? This? When will this be real to people? They go out in the end, uh, you know, they go out the end of December for January 1st. Okay. This December, like, yep. Next this month. Yeah. Their act, the actual tax bills go out for January 1st. So they will, they would be paying a lower rate as of end of this month, a lower property tax rate For this fiscal year. ‘cause the first two bills were estimated. Okay. Right. Okay. And this is for fiscal 26? Correct. Okay. Okay. Excellent. Thanks guys. Anybody else? Nope. All right. Great. Well, thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate, appreciate you.

47:03 I, I still, I’m gonna thank you first. I thought we were leaving. No, not five feet. No, he’s not kicking you. Thank you. Now it’s time to vote. Appreciate that. All right. We’re gonna put that up for, all right. If I could have a motion not to adopt a residential exemption. So a second. All in favor? Unanimous. Could I have a motion not to adopt a small commercial exemption? Moved again. Second, please. I second. Thank you. All in favor? Unanimous motion not to adopt the open space discount. So, so move And, and may I just have One piece? You may say Whatever you want. I think it’s important to note that open space, um, does not include 61 a B, which correct.

47:48 May be a future discussion topic. Thank you. Yep. Yep. So this is not this, this time thought We were gonna get through one meeting. Okay. Um, we had a motion to second. All in favor? Unanimous. And could I have a motion to adopt a single rate factor of one all parcels to be levied at 100%. So Moved. Okay. Thank you. All in favor? All right. Uh, any select court announcement? Thank you again. Thank you guys. Appreciate It. Thank you. Thank you. Thank You. Thank you. Keep up the good work your service folks. All right. Appreciate it. Got an email from Kyle. Any, uh, any select court announcements?

48:34 Um, I was wanted to, uh, express for your response to someone’s comments made that the board health, um, just upsets me when value employees are mischaracterized or leaders to that. So, uh, I appreciate the response. I sign on to all assessments behind it and, um, you know, we have, but we are committ to working with that as i i that as employees and context and collaborating with, um, other officials. And those are the things that really keep our heads safe. Thank you. Yeah. Look that concur as well. I mean, I think it’s real important to have a, you know, a debate and a deliberative process and just, you know, we got something like that. I think there some things thrown around loosely

49:23 and I try to make sure we deliberate. Sure. And, uh, so you sentiment Appreciate that. Appreciate it. Thank you. And we’ll continue toad and gather facts and, uh, move forward and attack our youth. Could I have a motion to adjourn? Full move. Second. All in favor. Thank you. Thank.