Tax Rate to Increase Slightly

The Board of Selectmen has agreed with the recommendation of the Board of Assessors to set one single tax-rate for fiscal year 2015.

Effective July 1, 2014, Medfield's property tax rate will be $16.12 per $1,000 valuation -- an increase of 39 cents over this year's rate of $15.73 (which remained unchanged from the year before).

At a tax classification hearing on Tuesday (Nov. 26) night, Board of Assessors Chairman Frank Perry told the Medfield Board of Selectmen that the average house in Medfield is valued at $600,000 and the tax rate of $16.12 will make the average tax bill $9,672 in FY15.

The selectmen agreed with the assessors' recommendation to set one single tax rate and not charge more for industrial/commercial properties like some towns do.

Medfield has long had the challenge of few industrial/commercial properties -- it is only 6 percent industrial/commercial -- and a tax rate differential, or "shift," could scare away businesses. 

"Given the lack of industry that we have and the hard time that the commercial property owners have, it really doesn't make any sense [to have a different tax rate]," said Perry. "And it's been the same [single tax rate] for the last 15 to 20 years."

The majority -- 94 percent -- of Medfield's property tax receipts come from homeowners.