Springfield City Councilor and Finance Subcommittee Chair Tracye Whitfield, announces that she, once again, disagrees with Mayor Sarno’s Press Statement that he “continues to provide as much relief possible for city residents and businesses during these surreal and challenging economic times……to provide additional tax relief for city taxpayers by committing an additional $6.5 million, as a one-time payment from the City of Springfield settlement agreement with Eversource, to offset the city’s Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) tax levy amount.” She believes more can be done.
In addition, Councilor Whitfield suggests increasing the tax relief amount and present a more equitable tax factor that sets the tax rate for residential and commercial properties.
“In Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22), I stated the mayor’s efforts were laudable but simply did not go far enough. Well, Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) is no different. At the Mayor’s current recommendation of the tax factors (factor used to set the tax rate) and the use of the additional $6.5 million of the Eversource Settlement agreement, the average residential tax bill will increase for the 8th year in a row by $194. If approved, the average tax bill from FY16 – FY23 will increase $1092. This is unacceptable!” states Whitfield.
The Eversource settlement was over $41 million dollars which brings the City’s free cash number to roughly $67 million. In essence, the administration can commit an additional $3.5 million, for a total of $10 million, of the Eversource settlement agreement instead of the $6.5 million proposed amount to offset the levy amount and reduce property tax bill increases to as close to zero as possible. Furthermore, there is still plenty of settlement money and free cash to commit to future property tax decreases.
Moreover, the administration chose a tax rate factor of 0.7926 that does not equitably reduce the tax rates between residential and commercial property owners. The Mayor’s proposed tax factor reduces the residential property tax rate by (1.77) and the commercial tax rate by (2.64).
“I propose a tax factor of 0.7834 that reduces the residential tax rate by (1.97) and commercial tax rate by (1.98). That just seems fair. If there was a tax factor that reduced the rates equally, I would have chosen that one. However, this is the closest I could get.” Whitfield adds.
“There are many creative ideas to give property tax relief to our constituents. In my research, I’ve found additional property tax exemptions/clauses like the 41A senior hardships clause, 18A financial difficulty hardship deferral, and many others offered by the Commonwealth that can be considered.”
Please review for more details.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/property-taxes-and-proposition-2-12-training-and-resources. “It is time for the City of Springfield residents to consider thought leadership that has our best interest at heart. Leadership that researches many different options to assist our residents most in need. Leadership that is forward thinking with ALL of our constituency in mind. Leadership that looks beyond the current year, looks beyond what has always been done and does its very best for our residents especially when facing inflation and economic downturns.” Whitfield Concludes.
