Publishers Chris and Yvette Cain have offered me the opportunity to explain how the assessing process works.  For this first article, I’m going to answer two questions people have been asking us this month as they come to Town Hall to pay their property tax bills.

Question: I have done no improvements or additions to my house, yet my assessed value increased.  Why?

Answer: It’s true that an addition or major renovation will most likely cause the assessment on your home to increase.  But, values also increase (and decrease) with the overall real estate market.

Based on various Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rulings over the past five or six decades, combined with voters passing what we call Proposition 2 ½ back in 1980, assessors are required to assess property at 100% of its full and fair market value every year.  To do this, we look at actual real estate sales in the previous year.  Since your Fiscal Year 2023 assessment is based on the status of your property as of Janaury,1, 2022, we looked at calendar year 2021 sales.

During this time period, house prices were still rising dramatically.  In fact, the median (mid-point) price of a single-family house sold in Holliston reached $552,900 by the end of December, 2021.  Keep in mind that “median” means half the houses sold for above that amount and half sold for below it.  In the 18-month period from July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021, 223 Holliston homes sold for $750,000 or less, and 86 sold for $751,000 or more.  As the overall selling prices rose during the past four years, most property values rose as well.

If you find it hard to believe your home is worth the amount we assess it for, here’s a way you can double-check our numbers: Go to www.realtor.com, enter your address (including town and state) and click on the magnifying glass icon.  When your house comes up, scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the price graph.  Position your cursor on the “2022” mark and two or three estimates of value from national valuation companies will be shown.  Your Fiscal Year 2023 assessment should fall within those estimates.

Question: My tax bill says “Third Quarter” and “Fourth Quarter” but January through June are the first and second quarters of the year.  Why is my tax bill wrong?

Answer: It’s not wrong.  State and local governments in Massachusetts operate on a fiscal (monetary) year running from July 1st through June 30th. (Just to confuse things further, the federal government operates on an October 1st to September 30th fiscal year.)

So, here’s how the fiscal year and the calendar year compare:

Next Article: What’s the difference between an “abatement” and an “exemption”?