Assessor Jessica Lincourt presented the city’s tax plan to the council at its meeting Tuesday, beginning with an update on the city’s property values.
“Single family homes assessments are going up on average about 9% this year, which is kind of consistent with all of the other towns and cities in Massachusetts condominiums," she told the council. "So, we had a lot of new growth with condominiums this year. The overall category is up 19.4%- But don't fret. If you own a condominium, your assessments going up about 3.5% this year. We have another category that we call mobile home parks and parcels that have multiple homes on one lot, those are up about 11% this year. The two family, three family homes, those are up about 9.2%. Four plus families, those are up about 6.5%.”
Lincourt offered the council numbers on how many taxable dwellings and properties North Adams contains, including more than 2,600 single-family homes, more than 600 two-family homes, and more than 300 commercial and industrial properties.
Commercial values rose by around 6%, while industrial values dropped almost 4%.
“Personal property is up about 11%, most of that is due to new growth, a lot of new assets with businesses," explained the assessor. "Some of our utilities, like Berkshire Gas, they've added about $3.7 million in new growth to that category, why it's up so high. So overall, our total values for this year are $1,093,077,758.”
Lincourt then turned to the city’s tax proposal for fiscal year 2025.
“In our recommended shift of the 1.715, the tax rate would be $16.71 per $1,000 for the residential tax bill," she said. "That would be an estimated average tax increase of $222.78 a year. That comes out to $18.57, a month, 61 cents a day.”
Like Berkshire County’s other urban hub, Pittsfield, North Adams is lowering tax rates to offset some of the increase from rising property values.
“Last year, residential tax rate was $17.14 per $1,000," Lincourt continued. "With our recommendation, this year it'll drop to $16.71 per $1,000, which is a 43-cent decrease.”
The commercial, industrial, personal property rate is also dropping.
“Last year the tax rate was $36.34 per $1,000, and this year would drop to $35.22 per $1,000, which is a reduction of $1.12.” Lincourt told the council.
The assessor explained how taxes apply to MASS MoCA, the sprawling contemporary art museum with a sizeable downtown footprint and considerable impact on the local economy.
“While MASS MoCA is tax exempt, anytime it leases any of its spaces to nonexempt entities such as retail stores, restaurants, and other businesses, those spaces within MOCA become taxable," said Lincourt. "Those tenants then begin paying real estate taxes on the spaces they lease. Those businesses are also subject to taxes on personal property associated with the businesses. In fiscal year 2024, we assessed $43,643.26 to tenants.”
She also broke down what North Adams’ hotels are paying in taxes.
“In fiscal year 2024, Hotel Downstreet paid $149,350.13 in taxes," the assessor said. "The Porches paid $158,915.81 in taxes, and Tourists, which, they have various LLCs on the hotel and other properties like around the Mass Ave area, they paid $299,236.83 in taxes.”
Lincourt offered a warning to any North Adams residents interested in disputing the city’s assessment of their property.
“If you file for an abatement, I'm just going to reiterate, I need to come and inspect your home," she said. "There are some people that are very, very shocked when they bring an abatement form to my office and I say, okay, when can I come look at it? They're like, what do you mean? You need to come to my house? What are you looking at? I'm going to print out your field card from my database, and I'm going to compare the data on that card to what I see in your house. I'm going to make sure we have the number of rooms correct. Do you still have an asphalt roof, or do you have a slate roof? Do we have your heating system correct? I'm not in there going through your drawers. I don't care about your pot plants. Your house is your house. I'm a guest there.”
The council – minus the absent Deanna Morrow – voted unanimously to accept the city’s tax plan for fiscal year 2025.
