AMHERST — Average residential property tax bills in Amherst are projected to exceed $9,600, but the year-over-year increase for homeowners is likely to be under $200, which is less than half the jump seen in 2023.

At a tax classification hearing Monday, Town Council voted to adopt a single tax rate, estimated at $17.82 per $1,000 valuation. With an average home assessed at $539,333, that property owner’s yearly tax bill would be $9,610.91. Last year’s average residential tax bills were around $9,416, meaning the average increase is about $195.

Principal Assessor Kimberly Mew explained in an email that the market in 2022 was moving at a “very high rate upward,” compared to 2023, when the market slowed. That meant the values of single-family homes, which for the first time last year hit $500,000, didn’t have to rise at such a large rate.

During the hearing, Mew recommended to councilors against shifting more of the property tax burden to the town’s 407 commercial properties. Under the largest shift allowed, the residential tax rate could be brought down to $16.65 per $1,000 valuation, and the average residential tax bill would drop by $631.02, to $8,979.89.

Mew presented additional statistics showing that under this scenario, the tax rate for commercial properties would rise to $26.72 per $1,000 valuation, and bills would go up by $5,615.57, a rise from $11.243.76 to $16,859.33.

“That’s quite a bit to do that split,” Mew said.

Assessor statistics show that Amherst has 6,303 properties, or 88.5 %, that are residential, with commercial accounting for 407, or 6.1%, and 189, or 5.2% personal property, which are typically owned by public utilities. The 30 industrial properties make up less than 1% of all properties.

While Amherst has limited commercial properties, 33%, or 2,053, of residential properties are classified as rentals, with 67%, or 4,226, in the owner-occupied category.

District 4 Councilor Pam Rooney said she would like to see a way for the town to get more property taxes from income-generating properties, which could be done by incorporating income made from these properties — by property management companies and limited liability corporations — as a factor into valuing them.

“I think it would change our tax base a lot,” Rooney said.

But Mew said the state Department of Revenue doesn’t allow this, as residential properties, aside from apartment complexes, have to be classified as single- or multi-family.

“The only residential property we are able to use income-expense method on is apartment buildings,” Mew said.

Amherst doesn’t use the open space exemption, Mew said, and councilors, based on her recommendations, voted against the residential exemption, which shifts the property tax burden within the residential class and is typically used on resort communities on Cape Cod. In Amherst, this could mean shifting the tax burden away from lower valued owner-occupied properties onto other types of residential properties, with higher costs being passed on to renters.

Councilors also voted against the small commercial exemption, which applies to businesses with less than 10 employees and valuation less than $1 million.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.