Fall River's fiscal 2027 tax split between homes and businesses goes to a council hearing Nov. 10
By our math from state figures, one rate for everyone would have added about $808 to last year's average single-family bill of $4,651. The City Council makes the final call.
FALL RIVER Updated 5:30 p.m. Nov. 5, 2026.
Fall River's Board of Assessors had the city's fiscal 2027 tax classification on its agenda for a 10:30 a.m. meeting Thursday, Nov. 5, a first step toward deciding how the property tax billed from Feb. 1 is divided between homeowners and business owners. By 4 p.m. the city had not posted minutes or any recommendation from the meeting. We will update this story when the board's action is confirmed. Last year the split kept about $808 off the average single-family bill, with business property paying the difference, by our math from state figures.
The agenda listed the item as a "Discussion of Fiscal Year 2027 Tax Classification." The same agenda included a closed session on abatements, exemptions and Appellate Tax Board matters, approval 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. 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; at one rate it would have been about $5,459. Business property's share of the levy was 1.75 times its share of the city's value, the highest ratio state law's minimum residential factor rule lets any class carry.
Why homeowners' share has grown
Even at that ceiling, the split moves with values. Business property's share of Fall River's assessed value fell from 17.5% in fiscal 2025 to 16.5% in fiscal 2026, state figures show, as residential values rose 6.7% and business values slipped slightly. Under the formula in state law, the business share of the levy is figured from its share of value, so a smaller business share of value leaves more of the levy on homes. 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, $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.
How the neighbors are splitting it
In Taunton, the shift question was tabled. At its fiscal 2027 classification hearing Oct. 13, the Municipal Council voted 9-0 to approve a split tax rate, the council's minutes show. A motion to set the shift at what the minutes record as "the 1.7490 % level" was tabled while the hearing was opened for public input. The minutes then record a motion to close public input and a 9-0 roll call, with no vote identified as on the shift motion.
The assessors' presentation at the Taunton hearing put fiscal 2027 assessments up about 6% and the levy at $148,959,067, the minutes show. Taunton's business property also carried 1.75 times its share of value in last year's levy by our math, and its average single-family bill was $5,540 on a home valued at $497,265.
Somerset's assessors scheduled a 5 p.m. meeting the same day to review their own proposed shift factors. Business property there carried about 1.72 times its share of value in last year's levy by our math, and the average single-family bill was $6,278 on a home valued at $485,506.
The state also measures each community's average bill against its per capita income. On that measure, Fall River's fiscal 2026 average bill equaled 20.8% of per capita income, Taunton's 17.7% and Somerset's 15.9%.
Read SC360's preview of the Somerset assessors' meeting.
What happens next
The assessors do not set the split. State law requires the City Council, with the mayor's approval, to hold a public hearing and adopt a residential factor before the state Department of Revenue approves a tax rate. Fall River's council has set that hearing for 5:55 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the Council Chamber at One Government Center. At that hearing the assessors must provide the data and "the fiscal effect of the available alternatives," the law says. If the mayor vetoes the council's factor, the council can override it 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.
Questions about your bill
Questions about a property's value, an abatement or an exemption go to the Assessor's Office at 508-324-2300.
Correction, Nov. 5: An earlier version of this story said Taunton had already decided its tax split. Taunton's council voted 9-0 for a split rate Oct. 13 but tabled a motion setting the shift at "the 1.7490 % level," and its minutes record no vote identified as on that motion. The earlier version also said state law caps the August and November preliminary payments without exception; the cap can be raised by a voter-approved tax increase.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Fall River Board of Assessors' Nov. 5 meeting notice, the city's official meetings calendar, the City Clerk's notice of the council's Nov. 10 classification hearing, the state Division of Local Services reports on assessed values by class, tax rates by class, average single-family bills and new growth, the Taunton Municipal Council's Oct. 13 minutes, the Somerset Board of Assessors' Nov. 5 notice, the Fall River collector's real estate tax page, and state law on classification, the minimum residential factor and quarterly bills. We read them on Nov. 2 and again on Nov. 3 and recomputed every share, the levy, the one-rate comparison and each community's shift from the state's numbers. On Nov. 5 we read the council's hearing notice, reread the Taunton minutes, the Somerset notice and the quarterly bill law, and checked the city's calendar for minutes of the assessors' meeting; none were posted by 4 p.m. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard: the Fall River Board of Assessors.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (13)
- City of Fall River: Board of Assessors meeting notice and agenda, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026Notice dated Nov. 2, 2026; City Clerk's received stamp Nov. 2, 9:30 a.m. Linked from the city's official meetings calendar. Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- City of Fall River: official meetings calendar, Board of Assessors, Nov. 5, 2026, 10:30 a.m.Read Nov. 5, 2026, about 4:10 p.m.: the entry links the agenda; no minutes posted.
- City of Fall River City Clerk: notice of public hearing on fiscal 2027 tax classification, City Council, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, 5:55 p.m.City Clerk's received stamp Nov. 3, 2026, 2:47 p.m. Linked from the city's official meetings calendar. Read Nov. 5, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Assessed Values by Class (Fall River, Taunton and Somerset, fiscal 2025 and 2026)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Tax Rates by Class (Fall River, Taunton and Somerset, fiscal 2024 to 2027)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Average Single Family Tax Bill (Fall River, Taunton and Somerset, fiscal 2024 to 2026)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: New Growth (Fall River, fiscal 2027)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- City of Taunton: Municipal Council minutes, Oct. 13, 2026 (Board of Assessors FY2027 Classification Hearing)Read Nov. 3, 2026, and again Nov. 5, 2026.
- Town of Somerset: Board of Assessors meeting notice and agenda, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026Posted Nov. 2, 2026 by board member Pamela M. Lee. Read Nov. 3, 2026, and again Nov. 5, 2026.
- City of Fall River Collector: Real Estate Tax (billing cycle, due dates, interest, Assessor's Office phone)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 40, section 56 (classification of the tax levy)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 58, section 1A (minimum residential factor)Read Nov. 3, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 59, section 57C (quarterly tax bills, preliminary tax)Read Nov. 3, 2026, and again Nov. 5, 2026.