Danvers Finds Error, Says Taxes Only Going Up 4 Percent

DANVERS, MA — For the second time in as many days, Danvers officials found an error in the spreadsheet they used to calculate the town's 2020 property tax rate. Now, officials say, residential property taxes are only going up 3.72 percent instead of the previously-reported 9.28 percent. For the average Danvers property owner, that means an additional $231 in property taxes next year instead of the previously-reported $577.

Town Manager Steve Bartha told the Salem News, which first reported this story, that the spreadsheet used last year's property values and this year's proposed tax rates when Selectmen met to set the rates on Tuesday night. The latest error follows an initial error that was discovered and corrected during Tuesday's meeting.

Last year, Danvers selectmen raised residential property taxes 3.01 percent, or $181 for the owner of the average Danvers home.

"No one is happy about increased taxes, and I feel the same impact as everyone else," Selectman Gardner Trask said in a Facebook post following Tuesday's vote. "But I appreciate the services we get in Town, and I understand that the cost of goods and serves also go up. "