New Tax Rates Set

On average, homeowners will pay $265.98 more; businesses, $490.35 less, under plan approved by selectmen for FY2025

 

By Mark E. Vogler

 

The owner of an average single-family home in Saugus valued at $641,074 will pay $6,847 in taxes next year – $265.98 more than this year. Meanwhile, the tax bill for an average commercial property, valued at $2,159,160, will be $47,415 – a decrease of $490.35 over this year. Those scenarios will take effect as a result of the new tax rates for the 2025 fiscal year approved unanimously on Tuesday (Nov. 19) night by the Board of Selectmen, pending approval by the state Department of Revenue (DOR). A tax rate analysis presented by the Saugus Board of Assessors showed a 4.04 percent increase in the average homeowner’s tax bill, while commercial and industrial property owners can expect an average decrease of 1.02 percent.

Once again, selectmen followed their past practice of recent years by adopting a plan calculating the lowest possible residential factor – a plan that would tax commercial, industrial and personal (CIP) property at a maximum share of the tax levy for the 2025 fiscal year at 175 percent. Selectmen voted to set the tax rates for the 2025 Fiscal Year that began July 1 at $10.68 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for residential and $21.96 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for commercial. The current tax rates are $10.65 for residential and $22.05 for commercial.

Deputy Assessor Iwona Zamiejska-Wilt and the Saugus Board of Assessors (Chair David Ricciardelli, Daniel Kelly and Jennifer D’Eon) appeared before the Board of Selectmen for a public hearing to determine the percentage of local tax levy for the 2025 Fiscal Year to be borne by each class of taxable property within the Town of Saugus.

“One of the things we have to commend is our commercial base,” Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree told selectmen during the tax classification hearing. He stressed that commercial property owners are paying additional taxes in order to keep Saugus residential property taxes low compared to neighboring towns.

 

Lowest new growth in nine years

The town’s new growth plummeted from $1,605,184 for 2024 Fiscal Year to $580,293.89 for the 2025 Fiscal Year – the lowest new growth total in nine years. During the 2016 Fiscal Year, the new growth was $477,878. New growth is the increase in the tax base due to new construction, parcel subdivisions, condominium conversions and property renovations, but not due to reevaluation.

“This was a light year for Commercial [growth] – not many office buildings,” Board of Assessors Chair Ricciardelli said. “Not many office buildings,” he added.

Ricciardelli also noted that “one of the big projects on Route 1 didn’t get done, it got delayed.”

 

Sizing up Saugus’ tax bill

Here’s how the Fiscal Year 2024 average residential tax bill for Saugus compares with other area communities:

 

Community    Average home value Average single family tax bill

Saugus                 $617,905                                                      $6,581

Danvers                $669,896                                                         $7,433

Stoneham            $709,434                                                         $7,513

Melrose               $791,260                                                         $7,857

Wakefield            $753,756                                                         $8,480

Reading              $854,864                                                         $10,019

Lynnfield            $984,943                                                         $10,352

 

  (Editor’s Note: Information was compiled by the Saugus Board of Assessors.)

 

Sizing up Saugus’ tax rates

Here’s how the residential tax rate in Saugus for Fiscal Year 2024 compares with residential tax rates of other area communities:

• Melrose – $9.93
• Lynnfield – $10.51
• Stoneham – $10.59
• Saugus – $10.65
• Danvers – $11.11
• Wakefield – $11.25
• Reading – $11.72
• Lynnfield – $11.30

The report also noted how the CIP tax rate for Saugus compared to Fiscal Year 2024 CIP rates of other area communities:

• Reading – $12.92
• Melrose – $17.71
• Lynnfield –$17.99
• Danvers –$18.60
• Stoneham – $20.17
• Wakefield – $21.70
• Saugus – $22.05

 

Total Taxable Value in Saugus

Class                          Value (Fiscal Year 2025)

Residential                  $5.98 billion

Commercial                  $847.5 million

Industrial                      $191.5 million

Personal                      $148.9 million

Total                              $7.2 billion

 

Total Taxable Value

Residential                    $5,982,707,282                     83.43 percent

Open Space                  0                                            0.00 percent

Commercial                  $847,515,359                        11.82 percent

Industrial                       $191,493,501                       2.67 percent

Personal Property           $148,895,060                   2.08 percent

Total                             $7,170,611,202                     100.00 percent

 

Total New Growth in Saugus

Residential                   $242,464.53

Commercial                 $35,113.94

Industrial                      $13,218.98

Personal Property       $289,496.43

Total New Growth       $580,293.89

 

New Growth Comparison in Saugus*

Fiscal Year     New Growth

2025                                        $580,294

2024                                        $1,605,184

2023                                        $1,515,638

2022                                        $846,712

2021                                        $1,146,652

 

  (Editor’s Note: Information was compiled by the Saugus Board of Assessors.)

 

  *New growth is the increase in the tax base due to new construction, parcel subdivision, condominium conversions and property renovations but not due to revaluation. It is calculated by multiplying the increased assessed valuation by the prior year’s tax rate for the appropriate class of property.