Seekonk residential values up 7.9%, business 4.8%, as the Select Board sets the tax split Nov. 18
Last year the board voted 5-0 for a 1.745 shift toward businesses with a 10% small business exemption, and state records show Seekonk had the highest average single-family bill among its Massachusetts neighbors.
SEEKONK Residential property in Seekonk is valued 7.9% higher for fiscal 2027 than a year ago, while business, industrial and personal property rose 4.8%, according to state figures, and the Select Board decides on Wednesday, Nov. 18, how to divide next year's property tax bill between homeowners and businesses.
The board holds its annual tax classification hearing at its 6 p.m. meeting in the Community Meeting Room of the Seekonk Senior Center, 540 Arcade Ave. The posted agenda lists the hearing as the first item of general business. Select Board meetings are recorded and broadcast live on Seekonk Channel 96, the agenda says.
What the board decides
Under state law, the Select Board in a town certified as assessing at full value must first adopt a residential factor each year, which sets the share of the tax levy carried by each class of property, and it must hold a public hearing before it votes. At that hearing the Board of Assessors provides the data and the fiscal effect of the choices. A town can tax commercial, industrial and personal property at a higher rate than homes, within limits the state sets, and the Department of Revenue does not approve the tax rate until the split is adopted.
The vote does not change how much the town raises in total, only the share of it that homeowners and businesses each pay.
What the board chose last year
At its fiscal 2026 hearing on Nov. 12, 2025, Town Assessor Lydia Cordeiro, joined by Assistant Assessor Alison Halaburda, gave the board estimated rates at shifts of 1.75, 1.745, 1.74 and 1.73, according to the board's minutes. Town Administrator Shawn Cadime told the board that adopting the 1.745 shift would mean an average increase of $5.58 for single-family homes, while commercially assessed properties would see an average reduction of $218.12, according to the minutes, which describe that shift as "the maximum amount permitted to shift the tax burden toward commercial properties."
Member Michael Healy moved to approve a 1.745 shift with a residential factor of 83.197687 and a 10% small business exemption, and the board approved it 5-0. Cordeiro told the board 17 commercial properties in town qualify for the small business exemption, according to the minutes.
The fiscal 2026 rates that came out of that vote were $12.27 per $1,000 of value for homes and $25.77 for commercial and industrial property, with personal property at $25.74, according to the state Division of Local Services. Seekonk taxed businesses at a higher rate in every year from fiscal 2018 through 2026 in the state's table, and in fiscal 2018 the rates were $13.35 for homes and $28.52 for commercial and industrial property.
The new values
The state's records show Seekonk's fiscal 2027 values in place, with total taxable value at about $4.09 billion, up from about $3.81 billion, or 7.4%. Residential value rose to about $3.35 billion from about $3.11 billion. Commercial value rose 5.5% to about $542.6 million, industrial value 3.1% to about $43.6 million and personal property 2.6% to about $147.5 million.
Because homes gained value faster than businesses, residential property now makes up 82.04% of Seekonk's taxable value, up from 81.60%, the state's figures show. By SC360's own arithmetic from those figures, keeping the same 1.745 shift would put about 68.7% of the levy on residential property, up from about 67.9% this year, so homeowners would carry a slightly larger share of the bill even with the shift left where it was. Wednesday's hearing is where the assessors present the actual options and their effect on bills.
How Seekonk compares
The average single-family home in Seekonk was valued at $558,474 for fiscal 2026 and its average tax bill was $6,852, according to the Division of Local Services. That was the highest of Seekonk's Massachusetts neighbors in the state's table: the average bill was $6,623 in Rehoboth, $6,304 in Attleboro and $5,623 in Swansea. Rehoboth uses a single rate for all property, while Attleboro and Swansea, like Seekonk, tax businesses at a higher rate.
Also on Wednesday
The board is scheduled to hold a license hearing on a request from Four Echoes Vintage Shoppe, 380 Fall River Ave., to amend its amusement facility license to allow larger events, and to hold the 2027 license renewal hearing for amusement, common victualler, motor vehicle, antiques and second hand, and amusement machine licenses. It will also discuss the aging fuel depot at the Department of Public Works and whether to replace it and move it behind the Public Safety Complex, meet with the town moderator about the fall town meeting, and take up a conditional job offer for an emergency dispatcher and several appointments. The board's next meeting after Wednesday is Dec. 2.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Seekonk Select Board's posted Nov. 18, 2026 agenda, the board's posted minutes of its Nov. 12, 2025 classification hearing, the Division of Local Services' assessed values, tax rates and average single-family bill tables for Seekonk, Rehoboth, Swansea and Attleboro (data current Nov. 13, 2026), the Board of Assessors page and the state classification law. We read each of them on Nov. 13, 2026, and checked each date and weekday against a calendar. The levy shares at the same 1.745 shift are our own arithmetic from the state's values.
Corrections
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Sources (8)
- Seekonk Select Board, meeting and executive session agenda, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026Town of Seekonk. Tax classification hearing, license hearings, fuel depot, place, time, Channel 96, next meeting Dec. 2. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Seekonk Select Board, minutes of Nov. 12, 2025Town of Seekonk. Fiscal 2026 tax classification hearing, shift options, 1.745 shift, residential factor 83.197687, 10% small business exemption, 5-0 vote. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Division of Local Services, Assessed Values by Class, fiscal 2025 to 2027Massachusetts Department of Revenue, data current Nov. 13, 2026. Seekonk, Rehoboth, Swansea, Attleboro. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Division of Local Services, Tax Rates by Class, fiscal 2018 to 2027Massachusetts Department of Revenue, data current Nov. 13, 2026. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Division of Local Services, Average Single Family Tax Bill, fiscal 2024 to 2027Massachusetts Department of Revenue, data current Nov. 13, 2026. Read Nov. 13, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 56Residential factor, public hearing, assessors provide the data and fiscal effect. Text saved Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 58, Section 1AMinimum residential factor and the limits on shifting the levy. Text saved Nov. 12, 2026.
- Seekonk Board of AssessorsTown of Seekonk. Assessor Lydia A. Cordeiro, Assistant Assessor Alison Halaburda, 100 Peck St. Read Nov. 13, 2026.