Newton Homeowners Will See Property Tax Increase In 2020

NEWTON, MA — If you own property in the city, your property taxes are going up again. Newton City Council approved a residential property tax rate of $10.44 for $1,000 of assessed value and a commercial tax rate of $19.92 for $1,000 of assessed value. While the rates are down ever so slightly from $10.45 and $19.94 this year, most property owners will see an increase because of rising property values and an increased city budget.

The Fiscal Year 2020 budget increased $14.55 million over the previous year.

The owner of a single-family home assessed at the median value in Newton of $1,043,900 will pay $10,898.316 or $401.50 more in property taxes for fiscal year 2020 from last. The owners of a commercial property assessed at the median value in Newton of $997,800 will pay $614.10 more in property taxes.

Commercial property owners whose property represent 10 percent of Newton’s taxable value will be responsible for 17.5 percent of the total amount of taxes collected. Residential property owners will be responsible for 82.5 percent of the total taxes collected.

The average assessment for a single family property in 2019 was $1,185,891 meaning the average property tax bill rang in around $12,392.56 this year. The average assessment for a single family in 2020 is $1,230,750, meaning the average property tax bill will come to around $12,849.03.

If you're feeling the need to go find a pitch fork, know this: assessors do not raise or lower taxes, rather they report market value. Each year the tax increase or decrease is determined by the budgetary requirements of the mayor and the City Council to run the city.

From the Newton assessors' website:

Rising or falling assessed values do not mean rising or falling tax bills. The increase or decrease in taxes seen by the property owner is a direct result of the increase or decrease in the budget. The budget increase or decrease determines the tax increase or decrease. There may also be some shifting of tax liability among classes of property (residential, commercial, industrial, personal) based upon the overall increase or decrease in value of the particular class. The primary reason for a tax increase or decrease is based on the budget requirements of the Mayor and the City Council to fund city operations.

Proposition 2 ½ limits all Massachusetts communities from raising the amount of citywide taxes more than 2.5 percent from the previous year’s levy limit, but it does not limit any individual property tax increase or decrease.

According to the assessor's website the median assessed values for Fiscal Year 2020 in Newton:

• Single Family $1,043,900
• Two-Family $865,000
• Three-Family $958,200
• Condominium $628,600
• Apartments $1,396,700

There are tax exemptions for veterans with at least 10 percent service related disability, income-eligible elderly, surviving spouses, and people who are blind, infirm, and have other hardship cases, according to Newton City Hall.

More from the assessor's office:

• FY2020 Taxable Real Estate Value in Newton is: $31,268,089,400
• FY2020 Taxable Business Personal Property: $472,007,200, which, when added to the real estate, results on a total taxable assessed value of: $31,740,096,600

• The total FY2019 taxable real estate value in Newton was $29,965,698,200.
• The total FY2019 taxable business personal property value was$459,149,400 which, when added to the real estate, results in a total taxable assessed value of $30,424,847,600 in the City of Newton.
• FY2018 taxable real estate value in Newton was $27,670,576,000.
• The total FY2018 taxable business personal property value was $$434,148,500 which, when added to the real estate, resulted in a total taxable assessed value of $28,104,724,500 in the City of Newton.

Check out the assessor's info here.

RELATED:

• Newton City Council Approves Higher Property Taxes 2018
• Average Newton Property Tax Bill Is $9,907 (From 2014)