Gansett Greatness is Saying…
Here are some entries from the Gansett Greatness FB page…
Let's talk tax rates. How does Templeton compare to area towns? The dollar amounts below are what residents pay in property taxes per $1,000 of their home valuation.
Town 2013 Tax Rate
Ashburnham 18.85
Orange 18.80
Westminster 18.36
Gardner 17.46
Petersham 16.18
Phillipston 15.56
Athol 15.48
Barre 15.34
Winchendon 14.93
Templeton 14.12
Hubbardston 13.64
Royalston 9.30
In fiscal year (FY) 2012, Templeton's tax rate was $14.60 per $1,000 valuation. Our taxes went down by $0.48 last year. The FY 2014 tax rate has not yet been set.
Some Responses:
Jon General-Nonsense W There is no comparing one town to another based on its tax rates. You have not taken into account so many variables such as services provided, current overrides, debt being paid on. And putting for more tax money does not mean a guarantee of correct and unwasteful spending... Just look at the Federal government, or the City of Detroit.
If there hadnt been so many poor decisions made in the past, we currently wouldnt be still paying for those now, ie the Patriots Rd industrial building that was slid in for $960,000 that is now useless because it wasnt disclosed it needed a $1.2 million roof and renovation.
Raising our tax rate to that of Ashburnham or Harvard or Lexington does not provide us with or guarantee us the same services or level of service, nor does it guarantee the outcome of learning in the school. That would come from the teachers we invest in.
I had hopes for the new members of the school committee, but since they certified a budget which included the amount of the override before the second town vote, I see they are no better than the previous. Basically they just told the voters who spoke and said they cannot afford this in this economy "screw you, we're getting this money, with or without your vote", with no explanation.
It also has threatened every other town department that has all ready suffered cuts.
Requesting and/or negotiation is one thing, force is another. You just lost future votes.
Erin Imbriani Davis We could easily stand to go up a buck or two!
Rod Norcross And I'll gladly let you pay mine
Stacey Greene Schultz The thing is THAT tax rate we have is the reason people move into town...when we looked 10 years ago that was a huge factor for Templeton over say Ashburnham..I couldn't afford my taxes in Ashburnham the way I can in Templeton..so I find that's a great thing to bring people in!
• Mike Gary From looking at the documents posted in the other comments, it appears that if property values go up, then the tax rate goes down and if property values go down, then tax rates go up. Take a look at the tax rates for the last ten years and think about what your house value was at the time:
2003 $13.68
2004 $11.65
2005-unavailable on DOR site
2006- $9.44
2007 $8.54
2008 $9.20
2009 $10.20
2010 $ 11.75
2011 $ 12.75
2012 $14.60
2013 $14.12
Mike Gary BTW-thank you Stacey for commenting and sharing your experience. Please continue to post and ask questions.
Just a little more from my perspective: I think everyone can appreciate a low tax bill but we also have to provide services, especially schools and public safety.
Diane Haley Brooks I moved back home for the school district and what it had to fully offer, being back home was a great feeling and also for the new elementary school. I came from the City of Leominster and things in the school system no longer appealed to what my children needed.
Jon General-Nonsense W I would also like to make mention of the concern of the Town 'underfunding' the school district by $700,000. You can only budget and fund for the funds you have available, and it needs to be done as the people see fit. However, I think highly of the service the Light Dept Enterprise provides, but they are and have only been paying what they 'feel' back to the town... Or a 'donation in lieu of taxes' for at least the past 15 years. Having the best facility, best trucks, best equipment, best tools, takes money but thats why they do indeed have the best, they only return to the town what they 'feel', when they should have a set amount or percentage. I have friends that work their, and its not their doing. Good for them. Im not tryin to take anything away from them, but there cant be one department that pays what they 'feel' with the newest and best of everything when all other departments are suffering, and then the school district says there's a shortfall.
Paul working for you.
The Templeton tax rate is a true reflection of the Town of Templeton. The Rate is actually high if you take a ride and view what we have. The only new thing is the middle school. We have a shoe box for police department and they do a great job with that.
ReplyDeleteI don't have to or want to go into the Highway Dept. 5 days a week are ENOUGH! Come check out the prime town office,"Rented". So what you would want is the best and newest but you pay the cost for these things.We get the job done with what we have to do it with.We are not all as luck as the L+W to have the bills to inflate to get the newest,the town has.Things are about to change in Templeton for sure. Templeton is getting a new formula,have you heard? Point is you get what you pay for and we have a tax rate that reflects just that. Pilots are usually based on a evaluation of assets.Based on our tax rate not what it use to be over a 10 year average.The assets have always been hidden at L+W and will all come to light soon.
So you can look at the high water/electric bills and see why.They spend it without you in mind.
The people in town are frugal and should be. If we have a rate as high as the others listed above what would be the outcome? New police,town hall,school,roads,highway equipment?
Please look at the big picture and see it all, not just what the schools say they need. Why do we teach chinese to only 6 students? But take away sports for so many? Go to the BOS meeting monday and voice you opinions as to what we need to do. Participation is a indication of where Templeton will be heading.
In my opinion, our tax rate is high, but we do not have much to show for it. We will be paying for loans the Water Department took out,{ forty year loans at that!}. I will be dead by the time they are paid off, and the interest will be more than the loan themselves. I know our Last Treasurer looked at all of these to see if any of them could be changed to a lower rate, or combined. There is information on this blog,about this, maybe around May it could have been last year for that matter, or the year before.. I think I need to look at this problem with the school and their budget in a new light. I am hoping that this will be a important lesson for the people who have tunnel vision. I am hoping they will learn, from this disagreement that the town government is a lot more complex than they know. I doubt they can understand, how hard it has been just to keep this town running, and at the same time trying to move forward. If they want a school that offers all the bells and whistles on their list, then they need to move to a larger city, where their are more resources for a tax base. If that is something they do not want to understand, I am very sorry. It is,what it is ! Bev.
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