Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller Proposes $15M Tax Increase

NEWTON, MA — Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller unveiled plans on Monday to ask voters to approve a $15 million tax increase, citing the need for additional funding for improvement projects.

The proposal involves three property tax overrides, including a general operating override of $9,175,000 and two debt exclusion overrides totaling $5.8 million.

Funds from the overrides would go towards supporting schools and senior services, maintaining fields, courts, parks, and playgrounds, moving city buildings toward climate resilience and sustainability, repairing roads and sidewalks, and replanting trees.

The tax increase would require a majority vote at a special election set for March 14, 2023 to override Massachusetts’ Proposition 2 ½, which places a 2.5 percent cap on annual property tax increases.

Newton residents have voted to override Proposition 2 1/2 twice since its enactment in 1980 - once in 2002 and again in 2013, Fuller said.

The mayor acknowledged that the increase will be difficult for some people and said she has docketed paperwork to double the city’s tax relief assistance and expand the tax deferral and water/sewer discount programs.

"This proposal addresses these important priorities I heard from Newtonians for Newton,” Fuller said. "Together we will invest in the future. Together we will move Newton forward."

The city’s webpage now has a calculator available for residents to assess how the proposed tax increase would affect them.