Select Board Approves Single Tax Rate for Fiscal Year

Holliston’s Select Board voted on November 25 to maintain a single tax rate for the fiscal year which began on July 1 and ends next June 30. The tax rate being submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue for approval is $14.65 per thousand dollars of valuation.

When property values increase, the tax rate falls and vice-versa.  Because property values increased by 8.1 percent over the previous fiscal year, the tax rate dropped by 41 cents – from $15.06 per $1,000 of valuation to $14.65.

The $1,170,366 Proposition 2 ½ override passed by voters earlier this year contributed a $0.29 increase in the tax rate, meaning the new rate would have been $14.36 per thousand without the override.  The $10,917 cost of the town’s new Means-Tested Senior Exemption – which lowered taxes for 11 senior citizens – translates into a $2.40 charge for each single-family homeowner.

As Holliston chooses each year, the Select Board voted not to offer possible exemptions for Open Space, Residential and Small Commercial properties.  Holliston has no properties assessed as Open Space; does not have second-home ownership in any numbers that would merit a Residential exemption; and, lacks sufficient small business commercial ownership meeting state standards for the Small Commercial exemption.  The town does exempt the first $5,000 value of businesses’ Personal Property ownership.

Property values for Fiscal Year 2025 are based on actual property sales in town from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.  Total valuation of taxable properties in own rose by 8.1 per cent to just over $4 billion.  The tax levy (the amount being raised by property taxes) is $59,097,184.  That number divided by the total value of property in town gives you the tax rate.

The average single-family home in Holliston is now valued at $705,732, which is 8.7 percent higher than last fiscal year’s $648,998.  The corresponding average property tax bill is now $10,338.97, or 5.8% higher than the previous fiscal year.  Without the Proposition 2 ½’s passage, that tax bill would have been $204.66 less.

The “average single-family home value” is calculated by dividing the total valuation of all single-family homes by the number of single-family homes in town.

Here is how the value of properties changed from Fiscal Year 2024 (which ended on June 30, 2024) to the current fiscal year:

• Residential: 9.1% increase
• Commercial: 2.7% increase
• Industrial: 0.6% increase
• Personal Property: 0.3% decrease

The presentation given by the Board of Assessors to the Select Board is available on the town’s website.  The complete list of new property values will be on the Assessors’ webpages by December 6th. 

The Department of Revenue is expected to certify the new tax rate by December 6th.  Property tax bills for the second half of the fiscal year will be mailed out by the end of the calendar year.