TOWN OF DUXBURY
FY 2008 TAX CLASSIFICATION HEARING
FACT SHEET
November 5, 2007
1) The total real and personal property assessed value for FY 2008 is $3,651,481,380. This is a one half of a percentage point decrease from FY 2007, as opposed to the 2.1% increase that was reported at this time last year and the 9% increase that occurred the year before.
2) The average single family home assessed value for FY 2008 is $641,300. This is a 1.2% decrease from FY 2007’s average assessed value of $649,100.
3) The total amount of revenue to be raised by both tax and non-tax sources (exclusive of the CPA) for FY 2008 is $59,061,407. This is only a 2.4% increase over FY 2007. In FY 2007, the increase over the previous year was 4.6% and in FY 2006, the increase was 5.7%. This revenue was derived from a tax base that consists of 6,039 units of real property and 472 units of personal property.
4) The tax levy for FY 2008 is $38,742,217. This is a 4.2% increase over FY 2007 as compared to FY 2007’s 5.2% tax levy increase over FY 2006. The Community Preservation Act (CPA) will raise at the local level an additional 3% of the real property tax levy. Without considering abatements and exemptions or the State match, this CPA surcharge amounts to $1,162,267.
5) The tax rate for FY 2008 is $10.61 per one thousand of assessed valuation. This tax rate is a 4.6% increase over FY 2007. This is second year in a row that the tax rate has increased because of the slowdown in the real estate market.
6) The average single family home tax bill for FY 2008 is $6,804. This is an increase of 3.4% over FY 2007 as opposed to the 4.6% increase that we saw last year. The CPA adds 3% to this average tax bill, or $204.
7) The assessed value of the new construction and personal property new growth that took place during the twelve-month period from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 is $58,119,890. This new construction translates into $589,337 of increased tax levy capacity over the basic limits of Proposition 2 ½. This is a 21.0% increase over FY 2007. Part of this increase is a consequence of the DOR mandated property inspection program that was funded at this year’s Annual Town Meeting. This property inspection program is now about 45% completed.
8) The Tax Classification law allows the Selectmen to increase the combined commercial, industrial and personal property share of the Town’s tax base up to a maximum of 50% of what it is at current market value. Since at market value these classes of property represent about only three percent of Duxbury’s tax base, even the maximum allowable tax shift would produce a relatively negligible decrease in the tax burden of the residential property class.
9) To illustrate, if the maximum allowable tax burden shift were made from the residential property class to the commercial property class, its effect on the average residential assessed value of $641,300 would reduce the tax bill by $115. However, the tax bill for a similarly valued commercial property would be increased by $3,405.
10) That is, the full implementation of the Tax Classification Law in Duxbury would have the effect for residential properties of lowering the current single tax rate of $10.61 by eighteen cents to $10.43. At the same time it would increase the commercial tax rate by $5.31, from $10.61 to $15.92.
| 
