WEST SPRINGFIELD – Property taxes for West Springfield residents are set to decrease for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019.

On Nov. 19, the Town Council agreed to lower both residential and commercial taxes after the the Town’s Finance Department submitted information indicating the overall tax rate for FY19 will decrease as compared to the FY18 overall tax rate. The new rates will be $16.96 per $1,000 valuation for residents, and $32.55 per $1,000 of assessed value for businesses.

This is the fourth consecutive fiscal year that the Town’s overall tax rate has remained stable, and the first year in which the overall tax rate has seen a decrease.

“I would like to thank Chief Financial Officer, Sharon A. Wilcox and Principal Assessor, Michael Motta, for their diligent efforts in preparing the information necessary for the tax classification hearing,” Mayor William Reichelt said in a press release. “Additionally, through the hard work of the Town’s Department Heads and employees, we continue to become more efficient, allowing us to present conservative budgets, while still meeting the community’s needs.

“Each year when I present a budget to the Town Council, I take into consideration how it will affect the overall tax rate, especially those who live on fixed incomes. Together, with the cooperation of the Town Council, we have been able to approve budgets that do not result in an increase to property taxes,” he continued.

Both the mayor and Town Council President George Condon attributed the decrease to economic growths and conservative budgets. Because West Springfield property values have gone up, the tax rate reduction may even out the playing field for some residents.

Condon explained to Reminder Publishing how the state’s shift rate affected the tax reduction.

“The State decided you could shift the tax burden from residential to commercial or visa versa. Theoretically, in West Springfield, if it didn’t have a shift rate, the tax rate for residential and commercial would be around $21 and some odd change,” he said. “But with a shift rate, a percentage shifts over to commercial to pay a higher rate-per-thousand of value – because of that shift rate, residents get a break. The state determines the rate, they told us the maximum shift is 1.5 for FY 19.”

“The Council bantered back and forth as to leave residential at 17.03 right now like last year,” he continued. “If we left residential at 17.03 and didn’t go up, then it wouldn’t change and commercial would’ve dropped substantially – but, they didn’t. They compromised and gave part to residential and part to commercial so both sides’ rates went down.”

Condon said residents could expect to save an average medium of around $60 on taxes.

Reichelt added in his statement that he was proud of the “progress” the city has been able to make – including infrastructure improvements – without placing the burden on residents through increased property taxes.

Condon said, that although several councilors felt that the tax reduction compensates the town’s recent sewer and water rate increases, he didn’t feel comfortable coupling the two.