BELCHERTOWN — After several years of property taxes increasing between 3% and 4% annually, property owners this fiscal year are paying an average of 10% more in the current fiscal year due to the recent approval of a $2.8 million Proposition 2½ override.
At a tax classification hearing on Nov. 3, Director of Assessors John Whelihan told the Select Board that property taxes for a single-family home have increased by $200 a year for the past few years. However, the override allowed the town to bypass the 2.5% increase cap on residential property tax and raise the average tax bill by an additional $400. This is reflected in the tax rate, which jumped from $14.51 to $15.13 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The average property tax bill for a single-family home in fiscal year 2025 was around $6,000. This year, it’s more than $6,600.
The amount of money the town can raise from taxation in fiscal year 2026 is $38,774,456, and will be the new levy limit for next year. The levy limit for fiscal year 2025 was $34,631,362.
The assessed value of all property in town is more than $2.5 billion, but 93% of the taxable property is residential, Whelihan said. New growth increased by $25,000 in fiscal year 2026, but remains below $400,000.
“It’s trending downward a little bit,” he added.
The Select Board voted to continue to access residential and commercial properties by a factor of one.
The increase could have been greater, Whelihan said, but the town decided to only tax $2.3 million of the total $2.8 million override. The excess tax levy of $678,805 will pay for the fire department funding expiring next year.
“You still have to tax $600,000 more next year, plus the tax levy’s higher, so it’s going to be more than a 3% increase next year,” Select Board Member Jonathan Ritter said.