Reading, MA — At their public hearing on November 7, the Reading Board of Selectmen arrived at several important determinations regarding tax rates for Fiscal Year 2018.
Most notably, the BOS acted on our new Reading Senior Circuit Breaker Program by determining the rate of relief at double the amount of the income tax credit thereby saving qualified seniors an average of 30%. 195 seniors applied for this new form of tax relief and 182 were granted. Most seniors qualified for the $1,070 income tax credit and they will receive $2,140 off of their FY 2018 tax bills. There were other seniors that did qualify but received much less. Their FY 2018 tax bill credit will also be double the amount of their income tax credit. Those credits will be applied to the Fiscal Year 2018 actual tax bills; $1,070 off of the bill due 2/1/2018 and again for the bill due 5/1/2018.
Next, the BOS had to determine the distribution of the cost for the senior tax relief. As conceived, the cost of additional tax relief is to be borne by the residential class of properties. At the double rate of relief, the residential tax rate would have been $13.87 and the CIP rate of $13.79. The BOS opted to slightly shift the tax rate to ensure that the CIP sector would pay 25% of the cost of senior tax relief. After adoption all necessary factors, the estimated tax rates for Fiscal Year 2018 are expected to be:
$13.86 for Residential Properties and,
$13.91 for all Commercial, Industrial and Personal Property.
These rates could change slightly due to rounding through the State Department of Revenue approval process.
The average assessed value of a single family for FY 2018 is up 4.9% to $559,800 and will have an average tax bill of $7,759, which represents a 3.59% increase. Commercial assessed values are up 1.1% with an average value of $1,580,100 and an average bill of $21,979, which is a .86% change..
The Fiscal Year 2018 tax bills will be mailed before the end of December. For those taxpayers wishing to pay before the end of the year, feel free to contact the Office of the Tax Collector at 781-942-9023 later in December for details.
Statutory Exemptions are available to those individuals that meet certain criteria. Persons that may qualify for an exemption include service-connected disabled veterans, blind persons, surviving spouses and seniors. Information and applications for exemptions can be obtained at our office or online at: www.readingma.gov/assessor/pages/exemptions
