Politics & Government

Tax Classification Hearing Set for Monday

The Lexington Board of Selectmen will set the FY14 property tax rate Monday night.

The Lexington Board of Selectmen will have a hearing to set the property tax rate for next year during the meeting that starts at 7 p.m. Monday night. 

As reported on Patch, the board will have to make four decisions during the tax classification hearing. They are selection of a residential factor, selection of a discount for Open Space, a residential exemption and a small commercial exemption. Lexington has not traditionally had either a residential or small commercial exemption. 

Perhaps the decision with the biggest impact is setting the residential factor. Lexington has a split tax rate, meaning the residential rate and the rates for commercial properties are different. The board can set the residential factor as high as 1.75, which represents the biggest split possible in favor of lowering the residential property tax rate. 

If the board were to adopt a 1.75 residential factor, residential property would represent 76.78 percent of the tax levy and the commercial property rate would be 23.22 percent of the tax levy. 

Currently the town has a 1.7 resident factor. If the board keeps that level the residential property tax will represent 77.44 percent of the tax levy and the commercial tax rate would represent 22.56 percent of the tax levy. 

Keeping the 1.7 residential factor would also mean that the residential property tax rate will increase by 5.32 percent over FY13 and the commercial rate will increase by 4.23 percent over FY13. 

Check out the Board of Assessors presentation on the tax classification hearing here


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