After a Classification Hearing held on October 12, the Rochester Select Board voted to maintain a residential factor of one, resulting in a continuation of the town’s practice of Residential and Commercial/Industrial properties being taxed at the same rate for FY24. Rochester’s estimated tax rate for FY24 is $11.06, down 6.82% from FY23.
“I’m trying to bring new business into the town,” said Select Board member Adam Murphy, who was happy to help avoid discouraging that very thing.
The average Single-Family-Home assessment for FY24 is $583,261, an 11.76% increase over FY23. The average single-family tax bill is $6,450.87, up 4.13% from FY23.
The average Condominium assessment for FY24 is $494,697, up 3.97% from FY23, and the average tax bill is $5,471.35, down 3.12% from FY23.
The average Commercial/Industrial assessment for FY24 is $698,903, up 11.27% from FY23, and the average tax bill is $7,729.87, up 3.7% from FY23.
The one-agenda-item public meeting was centered around a report from Rochester Director of Assessing Karen Trudeau, who read pertinent information into the record and explained that towns with high percentages of commercial property tend to use a split tax rate. Doing so in Rochester, she indicated, would not result in significant savings.
A shift in the tax rate would have lowered the average residential tax bill between $93.33 and $489.94 while, at the same time, increasing Commercial, Industrial and Personal tax bills between $706.09 and $3,871.92.
Of the five property classes in Rochester, 86.77% is dominated by residential land with a Full and Fair Cash Valuation of $1,286,285,865. Of the Commercial, Industrial and Personal property totaling 13.23%, Trudeau said in her report that much of that land is small business and Chapter land.
Appearing on Zoom, Board of Assessors member Jana Cavanaugh publicly thanked Trudeau and administrative assistants Margaret Gonneville and Jennifer Allain for their hard work preparing the Select Board members for their decision.
Rochester’s top five taxpayers are: NStar Electric ($36,563,890 value, $405,392.02 tax bill); Algonquin Gas ($22,569,200 value, $249,615.35 tax bill); SEMASS Partnership ($22,504,700 value, $248,901.98 tax bill); Buzzards Bay Solar ($17,244,900 value, $190,728.59 tax bill) and EL Harvey & Sons ($13,860,500 value, $153,297.13 tax bill.)
Industrial property takes up 5.52% of Rochester land valued at $81,820,355. Personal Property takes up 4.77% valued at $70,775,390 and Commercial takes up 2.94% valued at $43,605,710. There is no Open Space in Rochester.
The total value of Rochester’s real estate and personal property is $1,482,487,320, up 11.64% from FY23 with an estimated tax levy of $16,403,090.
The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, at 6:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Select Board
By Mick Colageo