Ask the Assessor

Why are the two quarterly property tax bills recently sent to me higher than the last two bills?

Doreen,

Attached is my “Ask the Assessor” for February.

Kevin

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Ask the Assessor

By Kevin Rudden

Principal Assessor

Question: “Why are the two quarterly property tax bills recently sent to me higher than the last two bills?”

Answer: The first two bills were “preliminary,” and calculated before fiscal year (July 1st to June 30th) assessments and the tax rate were known.

The Treasurer/Tax Collector calculates preliminary tax bills by taking the total amount of property taxes (and Community Preservation surcharge) you paid in the previous fiscal year, divides that amount by four (quarters) and assigns the result to the first two quarters of the current fiscal year.

After the assessments and tax rate are finalized, the second two bills – known as “final” – are calculated as follows:

1.      Multiply the assessed value by the tax rate.

2.      Calculate the 1.5% Community Preservation surcharge.

3.       Add the amount of taxes and the Community Preservation surcharge together.

4.      Subtract the first two payments from that number to get the balance owed.

5.      Divide the balance by two (quarters).

It’s important to know that whatever the balance is, it is paid across the final two quarters, which makes them higher than the preliminary quarterly bills.  This fiscal year, you also have the impact of the Proposition 2 ½ override approved last year included in the balance being spread across the final two quarters.

Here is an example of those five steps:

·         A Holliston homeowner has a Fiscal Year 25 assessment of $605,900. Multiplying that assessment by the $14.65 per thousand tax rate equals $8,876.44.

·         Their 1.5% Community Preservation surcharge is calculated as follow: $505,900 times .01465 = $7,411.44 times .015 equals $111.17.

·         $8,876.44 plus $111.17 equals $8,987.61 in total taxes owed for Fiscal Year 2025.

·         In Fiscal Year 2024, they paid $8,078.93 in property taxes. That number divided by four (quarters) equals preliminary payments of $2,019.74 and $2,019.73.

·         $8,987.61 minus the $4,039.47 (total of the two preliminary bills) leaves a $4,948.14 balance for the final two quarters.

·         $4,948.14 divided by two (quarters) equals $2,474.07 due in each of final two quarters.

When the next fiscal year begins on July 1st, the preliminary bills will be based on the $8,987.61 paid in Fiscal Year 2025, which means they each should be about $2,246.90.

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