By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING – The annual tax classification and tax rate public hearing held each November by the Select Board, as required state law, has had a recurring theme for many years: The tax rate goes down by a few pennies and property assessments rise, resulting in property tax bills that creep upward, most of which can be attributed to the town’s relatively small commercial base, which is currently 12.37%.
The baseline used for comparison sake from year to year is the valuation of the “average” single-family home in North Reading. For Fiscal Year 2026, that baseline has risen to $883,000 — an increase of $27,498 over the FY25 average of $855,502.
Assessing Manager Deb Carbone reported to the Select Board at Monday night’s public hearing that there are currently 4,323 single-family residences in town and 1,133 residential condominiums. The profile of the town’s remaining property classes in 2026 includes 74 multi-family units of up to five units each; 21 mixed use properties (commercial and residential); 313 commercial and industrial properties; 535 personal property accounts; and 182 parcels of vacant residential land.
The board concurred with the recommendations made by the Carbone and the Board of Assessors on the proposed new tax rate and voted to retain a single tax rate for all classes of property – residential, commercial, industrial and personal (known as CIP).
The town had a single property tax rate of $13.06 for FY25 per $1,000 of property valuation (average single-family tax rate of $10,604.49). This year, it was proposed that this rate increase by four cents to $13.02 (average single-family tax rate of $11,503.20). Two years ago, the property tax rate was $13.21.
For the CIP side of the ledger, the tax rate is proposed to be $13.01. The one penny difference is not due to a split tax rate. It is merely a factor of the town’s adoption of the Home Rule Petition that allows the town to grant a Senior Means Test to provide senior citizens who meet very specific criteria for income and assets to apply for a reduced property tax burden. This past spring, 28 senior citizen homeowners applied and qualified for the tax reduction with a total tax exemption of $34,415 divided among them. The penny shift in the residential tax rate under the Senior Means shift means that the average homeowner in town will pay a total of an additional $8.84 on their FY26 tax bill to cover the difference. The shift does not apply to CIP property taxes, thus resulting in that rate of $13.01.
Carbone reminded the board that the town has had a split tax rate only twice, in 1985 and 1988. By law, splitting the tax rate does not increase the available tax rate; rather, it shifts the burden onto the higher priced properties in town.
The $13.02 residential rate and $13.01 CIP rate is preliminary until the state Department of Revenue signs off on it, Carbone stated. The provisional rates were approved by Chairman Stephen O’Leary and members Vincenzo Stuto, Rich Wallner, Nick Masse and Catherine Morrin.
Other votes taken by the board Monday night were not to establish a residential exemption, not to establish a commercial exemption, and not to establish an open space exemption (as the the town does not have any open space lots as defined by state law).
The board also voted to “recommend the FY26 property tax levy of $68,137,087. This figure is $3,255,742 more than the FY25 levy of $64,881,345.
For comparison sake, the levy in FY20 was $53,213,804. By FY23, it had risen to $59,437,563 and the following year, it crossed the $60 million threshold at $62,236,898.
By law the town must have a balanced budget and must send out its property tax bills by Dec. 31.