Lakeville maintains single-rate property tax for next year
Select Board Chair Maureen Candito, left, and Vice Chair Lorraine Carboni at the Nov. 26 meeting. Photo by Grace Roche
Select Board Chair Maureen Candito, left, and Vice Chair Lorraine Carboni at the Nov. 26 meeting. Photo by Grace Roche
LAKEVILLE — After a brief discussion and a hearing with the Board of Assessors, Lakeville officials voted to maintain the town’s current property tax structure.
The Lakeville Select Board approved a single rate for the town’s 2026 property taxes at its Nov. 25 meeting, keeping the rate equal for personal and commercial properties.
The alternative, a split-rate structure, would bring in the same amount of tax, but the percentage paid by the commercial and residential sectors would change.
A split rate increases commercial taxes to reduce taxes for homeowners. However, with the current density of businesses in Lakeville, it would take an approximately 10 percent commercial increase to reduce the residential rate by about 1 percent.
Select Board Chair Maureen Candito said a split rate has not been recommended in the past because of concerns it would not significantly reduce resident taxes and would discourage businesses from staying in the town.
However, she said this is anecdotal, and there is no evidence to show a higher commercial rate would harm business interests.
“Having that as a limiter to what we can discuss — it's a false dichotomy, and we’ve squashed discussion about it before,” Candito said. “We should have a discussion, and we should have it every year.”
She said if the board approves a split rate in the future, it would make exceptions for certain businesses, including small business owners.
Select Board member Paul Hunt added a split rate is not the reason the town has so few businesses.
“Opportunity and infrastructure are the things that are keeping us [from attracting them],” Candito said.
The Board of Assessors recommended a single tax rate. Harald Scheid, the town’s interim principal assessor, said if the town considers changing the split in the future, it would be important to hear from the board, residents and business owners.
The new tax rate will take effect next year, and has been set at $9.74 per $1,000 of property value. This is about 60 cents less than the 2025 rate, but property valuations in the town have increased.
