Fall River assessors recommend 1.75 business tax factor, the state maximum, for fiscal 2027

FALL RIVER Fall River's Board of Assessors on Thursday recommended that business property again carry the largest share of the city's property tax that state law allows, a split that last year kept about $808 off the average single-family bill.

The three-member board, Chairman Richard Gonsalves, Secretary Richard B. Wolfson and Nancy L. Hinote, voted 3-0 at its 10:30 a.m. meeting Thursday, Nov. 5, on a motion to recommend to the City Council "the tax factor of 1.75" for fiscal 2027. The council makes the final decision, with the mayor's approval, after a public hearing at 5:55 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the Council Chamber at One Government Center. The first quarterly bill carrying the new rate is due Feb. 1.

The vote decides how the property tax is divided among classes of property, while the total the city may raise is set separately under its levy limit. State law caps the split: no class may carry more than 175% of its share of the city's total value, under the minimum residential factor rule. Last year Fall River's business property carried 1.75 times its share of value, by our math from state figures, so the recommendation would keep the split at that ceiling.

The board voted without discussion near the end of a nine-minute session shown on Fall River Government Television, and no projected fiscal 2027 rates or bills were presented in open session. Earlier, after a closed session from 10:35 to 10:55 a.m. on abatements, exemptions and Appellate Tax Board cases, the board approved a list of statutory exemptions and the fiscal 2027 boat excise commitment.

What the split did last year

Fall River taxed homes at $11.48 per $1,000 of value in fiscal 2026 and commercial, industrial and personal property at $23.58, state figures show. Homes made up 83.5% of the city's $11.03 billion in assessed value and paid about 71.2% of its $148.6 million levy, by our math from the state's values and rates, while business property, 16.5% of the value, paid about 28.8%.

With one rate for every class, that rate would have been about $13.47 per $1,000 by the same math. The average single-family home, valued at $405,164, carried a bill of $4,651, and at one rate it would have been about $5,459, roughly $808 more.

Why the same factor still moves home bills

Keeping the factor at 1.75 does not freeze homeowners' share. The business share of the levy is figured from business property's share of value, and that share fell from 17.5% in fiscal 2025 to 16.5% in fiscal 2026 as residential values rose 6.7% and business values slipped slightly, state figures show. By the same math, homes paid about 69.4% of the levy in fiscal 2025 and about 71.2% in fiscal 2026.

The average single-family bill rose from $4,103 in fiscal 2024 to $4,415 in fiscal 2025 and $4,651 in fiscal 2026, an increase of $548 in two years, while the residential rate stayed between $11.45 and $11.49. The state counts 9,469 single-family homes in the city.

For fiscal 2027, the state has certified $132.3 million in new taxable value in Fall River. Homes account for $62.7 million of it but only $719,511 of the $2,360,398 it adds to the city's levy limit, because the added tax is figured at last year's rates.

SC360 reported the city's fiscal 2027 levy limit and new growth on Oct. 28 and previewed Thursday's meeting on Nov. 3.

What happens next

At the Nov. 10 hearing the assessors must provide the council with the data and "the fiscal effect of the available alternatives," state law says. The council, with the mayor's approval, then adopts a residential factor, and the state Department of Revenue cannot approve a tax rate until that hearing is held. If the mayor vetoes the council's factor, the council can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of its elected members.

Fall River bills quarterly, with payments due Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 1, the collector's office says. The August and November payments are preliminary and by law generally cannot exceed half of 102.5% of the prior year's tax, so the payment due Monday, Feb. 1, 2027, is the first to carry the fiscal 2027 rate. Interest runs at 14% a year on late payments, and postmarks are not accepted as proof of payment on time.

The assessors set their next meeting for 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 10. The Board of Assessors and the mayor's office did not respond by noon Friday to questions about the recommendation and projected fiscal 2027 rates.

Nearby

In Taunton, the Municipal Council voted 9-0 on Oct. 13 to approve a split tax rate and tabled a motion that its minutes record as setting the shift at "the 1.7490 % level." The council's minutes record no vote identified as on that motion.

How to weigh in

The council's Nov. 10 hearing is open to the public in the Council Chamber at One Government Center. Questions about a property's value, an abatement or an exemption go to the Assessor's Office at 508-324-2300.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.