Taunton's property tax limit rises about $6.2 million for fiscal 2027 as the state certifies $149.4 million in new growth

SOUTH COAST The state has certified $149.4 million in new construction and improvements in Taunton for fiscal 2027, adding about $2.7 million to the city's property tax limit. With the yearly 2.5% increase, the most Taunton can collect in property taxes in fiscal 2027 rises to about $144.7 million before debt that voters excluded from the limit, about $6.2 million or 4.5% more than last year's limit. The certification is the first fiscal 2027 tax figure for Taunton on the state Division of Local Services' books. The tax rate itself, and how the bill is split between homes and businesses, still waits on a Municipal Council hearing.

What the state certified

New growth is the value of property that is new or newly improved, such as a house built or a building expanded, and the tax on that value is added to the limit, so it widens the tax base without raising the bill on property that did not change. State figures put Taunton's fiscal 2027 new growth at $149,421,400 in value, which adds $2,717,583 to the levy limit. Last year the city certified $130,586,233, which added $2,324,667. Homes made up $65.8 million of this year's new value and $732,804 of the added tax, about 27% of the total.

Under Proposition 2 1/2, a city's levy limit grows each year by 2.5% of the prior year's limit plus new growth. Taunton's fiscal 2026 limit was $138,538,951, so the formula puts fiscal 2027 at $144,720,008. Debt and capital spending that voters excluded from the limit are added on top; last year those exclusions added $4,274,995, for a maximum levy of $142,813,946. Taunton taxed $142,753,235 last year, $60,711 below that maximum, and the year before it came within $18,231.

The city's fiscal 2027 budget presentation to the council, dated May 6, said the fiscal 2027 budget was balanced "without an override" and that fixed costs rose faster than Proposition 2 1/2 revenue "for Third Consecutive Year."

What homeowners paid last year

Taunton's average single-family tax bill was $5,540 in fiscal 2026, up $390 or 7.6% from $5,150, the steepest percentage rise among 19 South Coast communities in state figures. The average single-family home was valued at $497,265. Homes were taxed at $11.14 per $1,000 of value, and commercial, industrial and personal property at $23.73.

The residential rate is lower than the $12.05 of fiscal 2023, but bills kept climbing because values rose faster. The average single-family value is up about 29% since fiscal 2023, from $385,528, and the average bill is up $894 from $4,646. The biggest jump came in fiscal 2025, when the average bill rose $443.

How the split was set last year

State law requires the council to hold a public hearing before it decides what share of the levy each class of property carries, and the assessors must lay out the fiscal effect of each option. The state will not approve a city's tax rate until that hearing is held.

Taunton held its fiscal 2026 hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Chief Assessor Richard Conti and Assessors Lisa LaBelle and Kristin Abreau went over home sales, how assessments changed from fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2026, the city's tax rate history since 2015 and the average single-family bill, the minutes say. The council then voted to split the rate, with Councilor John McCaul opposed, and voted to set the split at a 1.750 shift onto the commercial side, with Councilors McCaul and Estele Borges opposed, according to the minutes. Under that shift, business property paid 1.75 times what a single citywide rate would have been, about $13.56 per $1,000 by our math from last year's levy and total value.

What happens next

The assessors put "Tax Classification Hearing date" on the agenda of their June 17 meeting. The council's next meeting, moved because of the Nov. 3 state election, is posted for Monday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 a.m., and its agenda lists no hearings.

Taunton bills quarterly and mails bills twice a year, two quarters at a time. The second-quarter bill, mailed July 1, is due Monday, Nov. 2. The bill mailed at the end of December reflects each property's assessed value and the current tax rate, the Assessor's Office says, with the third quarter due Monday, Feb. 1, 2027, and the fourth due Monday, May 3, 2027.

Homeowners 65 and older or with a disability, with household income of $41,047 or less, can also apply for help from the city's donation-funded tax aid fund by Dec. 15.

How to weigh in

The classification hearing is open to public input. The council meets in the Chester R. Martin Municipal Council Chambers at City Hall, 15 Summer St., and its meetings stream on the Taunton Municipal Network. At council meetings, speakers give their name and address and are asked to keep comments to three minutes, and written comments may also be handed in. Residents can sign up in advance with the City Clerk's office at jleger@taunton-ma.gov or on the sign-up sheet in the chambers before a meeting. The council office is at 508-821-1035, and questions about an assessment go to the Assessor's Office at 508-821-1011.

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