HOLLAND – Holland residents will have a $13.09 per $1,000 fiscal year 2023 (FY23) tax rate – a decrease from the FY22 $15.54 tax rate.

The Select Board and Board of Assessors hosted a joint meeting on Nov. 15 for an FY23 tax classification hearing. At the hearing, Cynthia Poirier, chair of the Board of Assessors, explained that they would be voting on five questions and revealing the excess tax levy.

Poirier said, if they vote on a single tax rate, residents would be looking at a tax rate of $13.09. Regarding the residential exemption – to have one or not – she noted that the Board of Assessors recommend they do not have one. Poirier explained that a residential exemption is often something that is preserved for the community, which Holland does not have. Therefore, she said the town would not benefit from having one.

Poirier went on to say that the second question is relatively new to the classification hearing, which involves seniors needing tax exemption. This is a tax exemption that they have by charter, which they don’t have in Holland, so she said they would be voting ‘no’ on that, along with the combined impact for seniors needing tax exemption.

“The last commercial exemption – that would be something by charter that we would say – a small business with 10 or 15 employees would be exempt and we only have those kinds of businesses pretty much, so we don’t want to exempt those,” she said. Poirier reiterated that her board does not recommend any of these questions.

However, she went on to say that the assessors do recommend a single tax rate. She informed the Select Board that the excess tax levy capacity is $160,419, although this could change by a few pennies when submitted, for rounding purposes. She added that last year’s excess tax levy capacity was $97,390.

Poirier explained that if they didn’t increase the excess tax levy capacity, the tax rate would be higher. With the current price of oil among other high expenses, she said they would not like to hit taxpayers with two increases at once.

After brief discussion, a motion was made to accept all the recommendations made by the Board of Assessors. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the Select Board.