By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Residential and commercial, industrial and personal property (CIP) property taxes will be increasing significantly in fiscal year 2026.
The Select Board unanimously approved a shift in the town’s tax classification during a Nov. 4 meeting. The 1.7 maximum shift and the 0.914563 median residential factor approved by the Select Board means the residential property tax rate is estimated to be $11.45 per thousand-dollar valuation for FY26, which represents an increase of 89 cents over FY25’s tax rate of $10.56 per thousand-dollar valuation.
Assessing Manager Victor Santaniello said the average residential tax bill for FY26 will be $12,371, which represents a 12.1 percent increase over FY25’s average residential tax bill of $11,035.
“The difference is around $1,300 from last year to this year,” said Santaniello.
Santaniello noted that the average single-family home value for FY26 is $1,080,400.
“The maximum allowable shift would save Lynnfield residential taxpayers an average of $1,156 for a single-family home at that $1,080,400 value,” said Santaniello. “To adopt the maximum shift, you would be affording Lynnfield residential taxpayers the lowest possible share of the tax burden allowed by state law.”
Santaniello said the CIP tax rate is estimated to be $21.28 per thousand-dollar valuation for FY26, which is $2.10 more than FY25’s rate of $19.18 per thousand-dollar valuation.
“The average commercial value is $1,412,700,” said Santaniello. “The median commercial value is $398,600. The median commercial value is more reflective of small businesses in a community. It’s your mom-and-pop stores. It may be the portion of value that a small mom-and-pop place pays for their tax obligation renting another building. That seems to have the most sensitivity in communities. You don’t want to put your dry cleaner out of business or anything like that through taxation.”
Santaniello said, “The new debt exclusion added for FY26 is $595,000.”
“It adds 11 cents to the residential rate and 20 cents to the commercial rate,” said Santaniello.
Santaniello recalled that voters approved a $4.65 million Proposition 2 1/2 override for FY26 in early June.
“The $4.65 million override adds 83 cents to the residential rate and $1.55 to the commercial rate,” said Santaniello.
Santaniello said $5,245,500 is the total amount added to the town’s tax levy for FY26.
“Together, they add 94 cents to the residential tax rate and $1.75 to the CIP tax rate,” said Santaniello. “It adds $1,336 to the average single-family bill, approximately $2,500 to the average commercial tax bill and around $700 to the median commercial tax bill.”
Santaniello said the Massachusetts Department of Revenue is required to approve the tax rates.
“These rates can change slightly as we go through the approval process with the state Department of Revenue,” said Santaniello.
Santaniello recalled that state law allows municipalities to give Open Space Discounts to “land which is not otherwise classified and which is not taxable under provisions of Chapters 61A or 61B, or taxable under a permanent conservation restriction.”
“In Lynnfield, there has been no land identified and more importantly classified as open space,” said Santaniello. “This would be a moot point and my recommendation would be to not adopt a discount for open space.”
Santaniello also said the town has never provided Residential Exemptions.
“You could grant a Residential Exemption of up to 35 percent of the average residential value, but this has only been adopted in a handful of communities,” said Santaniello. “When you look at the communities such as Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Brookline and Somerville, the reason it works there is because any shift is only within the residential portion of the tax base, so the other residential taxpayers funds it. But what supports it is a big community of out-of-town investors who buy two- and three-family homes, apartment buildings and things of that nature. You are raising the residential rate considerably to give owner-occupied homeowners a break. It really wouldn’t work in Lynnfield. Basically, 30 percent of the top-tier homes would be funding a discount for everybody else. The only way to say it is its class warfare. I have never seen it adopted in a community like Lynnfield, Reading or Wakefield.”
Santaniello said the Small Commercial Exemption is an exemption that provides “up to 10 percent of the property valuation for commercial properties only.”
“There is a few criteria that is difficult to meet,” said Santaniello. “Eligible businesses cannot have more than 10 employees as certified by the Department of Employment and Training. The building value cannot exceed $1 million. One business in a building could not qualify unless every other business qualified.
The exemption goes to the property owner who may not necessarily be the business owner. The Assessing Department is unaware of any commercial property that would benefit substantially from this form of tax relief. I am sure if I did a deep dive I could find two or three, but tax policy to me should be more global. You should have a bigger pool of eligible people before you consider something like this. Only a handful of communities use this exemption, and I scratch my head at some of them. My recommendation would be to once again not to adopt.”
Select Board Chair Phil Crawford recalled that there was a discussion last year “about increasing the tax shift.”
“Has there been anymore discussion about that?” asked Crawford. “I know that 1.7 is the maximum now.”
Santaniello said last year’s 1.67 maximum shift was “a function of the levy ceiling.”
“In the couple of years we have been here, leaving a little bit of levy on the table either intentionally or as a result of things rounding, there is always going to be some left over that is excess levy capacity,” said Santaniello. “That and our slightly rising valuations work in concert to bump up the levy ceiling, which is how we got to 1.7 this year. If things hold true, next year we will be getting closer to 1.72, 1.73 and ultimately 1.75.”
There were no residents who spoke during the tax classification public hearing, and the Select Board closed it.
After the discussion, the Select Board voted to approve the 0.914563 minimum residential factor for FY26. The Select Board also voted not to adopt the Residential and Small Commercial Exemptions as well as the Open Space Discount.