Property Tax Bills Are Out on Island: Edgartown Drops; Other Towns
Rise

By IAN FEIN

Driven by ever-increasing municipal spending, average property tax
bills in five of six Island towns rose yet again this year.

But while most Vineyard landowners will find higher tax bills in
their mailboxes this week, the average property tax for a single family
home in Edgartown dropped slightly - from $3,200 last year to
$3,140. It marks the first time in at least five years that any Island
town has seen a decrease in its average bill, and it puts Edgartown
ahead of Chilmark for the title of lowest average tax bill on the
Vineyard.

Edgartown officials were surprised to learn of the decline this
week, and offered a range of explanations, including an increase in
contributions for state-owned land and the timing of the town adoption
of the Community Preservation Act.

Meanwhile, the other Island towns are all reflecting a statewide
trend in Massachusetts, where local property taxes have risen steadily
for more than a decade.

According to most recent numbers provided by the state department of
revenue, the average single-family property tax bill in the commonwealth
this year topped $4,000 - up more than 25 per cent from five years
ago, when the average bill was roughly $3,200.

In that same time period, average property tax bills in all six
Island towns have increased between 25 and 33 per cent.

There is a common misconception that average tax bills are related
to rising property values, but in fact they have virtually no
connection. Average bills are driven by the annual town tax levy, which
is determined by municipal budgets and receipts. Taken together, the six
Island towns this year needed to raise some $67.4 million in property
taxes, up roughly 30 per cent from $52 million five years ago.

"As long as town expenditures continue to rise – for
things such as health care, pensions, salaries and the general cost of
running municipal governments - so will people's property
taxes," department of revenue spokesman Lydia Hill said this week.

The average property tax bill for a single-family home in Chilmark
rose five per cent this year from $3,080 to $3,250, while Oak Bluffs
went up four per cent from $3,460 to $3,600, and Aquinnah up some nine
per cent from $3,660 to $3,995.

The highest average tax bill on the Vineyard - as well as the
entire Cape and Islands - remains in West Tisbury, where the
average bill rose about three per cent from $4,500 to $4,615.

Tisbury homeowners saw the largest increase in average bills on the
Island this year, up roughly 12 per cent. The town is gaining on its
neighbor to the west, though the number comparisons are not
apples-to-apples because Tisbury is one of about a dozen towns in the
commonwealth that offers a property tax discount to year-round
residents. The so-called residential exemption this year is $920, so
while a non-resident owner of the average residential property in
Tisbury will see a tax bill of $4,600, a year-round owner of the same
property would pay $3,680 in property taxes.

The large increase in Tisbury is due in part because selectmen
shifted the tax burden slightly this fall. Tisbury is the only town on
the Vineyard that splits its tax rate between commercial and residential
properties, and, after lobbying from business owners, selectmen in
November decided to reduce the higher commercial property taxes this
year.

Even though the median Vineyard real estate price dropped in 2006
for the first time in six years, overall assessed values rose about six
per cent Islandwide this year. The discrepancy is because of a lag
between assessment dates and tax bills. The fiscal year 2007 assessments
are based on estimated property values as of Jan. 1, 2006, when real
estate prices still were on their way up.

This year did bring an overall slowdown in property assessment
spikes, however, as the assessed value of the average single-family home
in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury all increased between
50 and 70 per cent over the last five years.

The average single-family home in Chilmark this year is valued at
$1.74 million, at this point still the highest average in the
commonwealth – though assessors on Nantucket, which last year had
the second-highest home prices, have not yet completed their fiscal year
2007 townwide revaluation.

Oak Bluffs still has the lowest property values on the Vineyard,
though the average single-family home assessment rose seven per cent
this year from $602,100 to $644,000. The average residential property in
Tisbury rose slightly in value from $789,500 to $816,800, while the
average single-family home assessment in Edgartown went up from $1.05
million to $1.1 million. Aquinnah single-family home assessments dipped
this year from $991,500 to $991,100.

Overall property values in West Tisbury jumped about 11 per cent
this year, and the average single-family home assessment in West Tisbury
topped $1 million for the first time, rising from $943,000 to $1.05
million.

West Tisbury principal assessor Jo-Ann Resendes said that, based on
2005 sales data, prices were increasing for a large bulk of properties
in the center of town. "The middle-of-the-road stuff is moving up
to catch what had already gone up," Ms. Resendes said this week.

The shift is mirroring a trend across the Island over the last
couple of years, in which inland properties are rising in value at a
faster rate than waterfront properties, which saw their prices increase
dramatically in prior years.

Property values do not impact the average tax bill, though they do
determine how the tax levy in each town is divided among landowners.
Because of the substantial increases in the middle of town, some
waterfront landowners in West Tisbury will see their tax bills drop this
year even though their assessments may have stayed the same.

The department of revenue spokesman said such changes will likely
continue in the years to come.

"High-end parcels are beginning to lose some value," Ms.
Hill said this week. "As the real estate market begins to
stabilize, we'll probably see more and more of that."