in the driver or email. >> All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's meeting of the Lunberg Select Board. Today is Tuesday, November 25th. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live over the Lunberg public
access channel on Facebook live on the public access Facebook page and will be uploaded to the Lunberg Access YouTube channel after the meeting. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these
discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law. We're going to begin tonight with announcements and the only one that I have prepared is that uh the annual treelighting event is going
to be on next Thursday, December 4th at 6:00 p.m. It is that time of the year again for a celebration of carolling, candy canes, and community tradition. The event is going to be at the town gazebo again next Thursday at 6 pm. So if you are available, you should come
down and celebrate with uh Santa and community. All right. Any public comments from the public this evening? Mrs. Lio, come on up. >> Sorry. >> Ron Delio, 181 Reservoir Road. Um, I
just wanted to comment on the public hearing for the finance committee. I was the only member of the public to attend uh the finance committee public hearing for the warrant articles for last week's special town meeting. And for all of
those who were not in attendance, I would like to provide a breakdown of the charade. When I arrived at town hall, the door was locked. I stood with finance committee members waiting to gain entry to the building. The door was
automatically locking whenever closed. I warned that we either needed to figure out how to unlock it or prop it open in order to proceed with the meeting. The pack employee let us in and was able to unlock the handle. Once upstairs, I
noticed there was not a single sponsor to answer questions on a single warrant article. The only sponsor to earn an excused absence in my mind was the planning board. Its chair and board had
already provided ample opportunity for public input and questions during its public hearings and forums on its warrant articles. I have attended numerous finance committee public hearings in the past.
This was the first time I did not see a single select board member in attendance. It was the poorest excuse for a public hearing I have ever attended. I am angry with myself for participating in it. My participation
may have me misled others into believing the public hearing had some degree of legit legitimacy when it did not. I was the only person in this town foolish enough to expect I could ask questions
and receive answers at a public hearing. I think the bo this board should thank be thanking its lucky stars it was able to pass as many articles as it did with the non-existent efforts focused on
scheduling planning and the logistics of the so-called public hearing on the warrant articles. Thank you >> and happy Thanksgiving. >> Happy Thanksgiving, Rhonda. >> All right. Any other public comments from the public? Anyone on Zoom?
>> Yes. Go ahead. >> Hello, >> Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. Rogers. >> It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood. Um, thank you. the um I have a whole host of different uh uh things to talk
over, but I I'm going to be very sensitive to the the um uh way we have to talk. >> Okay. Can you just start with your name and address? >> Sure. My name is David W. Rogers and I live at 82 Highland Street.
>> Okay. >> Yep. Go ahead. >> Uh all right. So I watched last night uh with the uh uh the the meeting that was going on and um tribard. Yeah, that's what it was. And
it was uh uh interesting. Um the uh the discussion really was around you know what are we going to do for the future and this and that and and the thing I am I'm going to talk to you real quick about is a request uh to uh the board of
selectman uh to uh get in touch with the uh folks that that do the audit uh for the town and and to ask them how uh the uh um charges for Fitsburg uh were not
picked up over, you know, seven or nine years. Um and depending upon what kind of a uh response you get uh we could either you know say uh we don't need their services or or come up with some
kind of a of a way so that this wouldn't happen uh again because it's very embarrassing. Uh some people in town I've heard say well we shouldn't even pay Pittsburgh. I don't think that that's possible. Uh you know they're our neighbor and uh you know
I I would hope that that we wouldn't do something like that. The the other um general uh concern I have is uh the the way our accounting uh is is supervised.
Um it's it to me uh there's some uh real uh holes in the in the process. So I think that uh one of the things we have to do is to tighten that up so that we won't have these uh embarrassments uh
again. So as the uh uh budget season uh starts and and progresses, I I think that we really should figure out how we can uh put some safeguards in so that this won't happen again. Thank you.
>> Understood. Thank you, Mr. Rogers. Happy Thanksgiving. You too. >> Okay. Any other public comments from the public? >> All right. Not seeing any other public. >> All right. Moving on. And the only thing on the agenda tonight is our tax
classification hearing. Uh, which is >> Oh, is there any public comment from the board? Sorry, forgot about you guys. >> Nope. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to the tax classification hearing. That's when the select board decides if the town is going to have a single or a split tax rate and whether or not we're going to adopt some other exemptions. So, we have
our principal assessor, Linda Chaikica, here tonight for a presentation. Um, and this is a public hearing, so I'll ask the clerk to read the public hearing notice. >> 7:05 p.m. Uh, public hearing, the tax classification hearing to >> Oh, sorry. Supposed to have a
>> Yeah, I do have it underneath. Uh, public hearing notice. Pursuant to chapter 40, section 56 of Mass General Law, the Lunberg Select Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday evening, November 25th, 2025 at 7:05 p.m. in Bada meeting room at Town Hall, 17 Main
Street, Lunberg, Massachusetts. The purpose of the hearing is to to determine the percentage of the local tax levy to be borne by each class of real property. The hearing will include a presentation by the board of assessors outlining the options available under chapter 40 section 56 of the
Massachusetts general laws. The public is welcome to attend posted to town of Lunenberg website on November 4th, 2025. >> All right. Thank you. Over to you, Linda. >> Good evening. My name is Linda Chika. I'm the principal assessor and I am here
tonight to uh present the fiscal 2026 tax classification hearing. Um getting the purpose. >> Yeah, we're getting an echo. >> So the booth we're getting an echo. >> So the purpose of the tax classification hearing is to determine a residential
factor. Um residential factor one is a single tax rate or a split tax rate. And um going to ask the uh select board to actually uh to vote on this and also decide to adopt on a residential
exemption, an open space discount and a small commercial exemption. We have five classes of property um uh per the department of revenue. Uh first one is residential, open space, commercial, industrial and
personal property. There is no open space classification of property in Lunberg that's designated by the department of revenue. I have some commonly used terms uh for reference for tonight's presentation. Um
going to just uh reference um some of them that will be used frequently. The first one being the assessed value. that is the fair cash value placed on a property for tax purposes and it's determined by documented sales uh in
Lunenburgg. We did use uh fiscal 2024 sales uh or I should say calendar 2024 sales for fiscal 2026. Our tax levy is the total amount of money the town is able to raise through
property taxes each year. Our tax rate is the amount per thousand of the assessed value and it's used to calculate a property tax bill. And classification is how property is grouped for tax purposes whether it's
residential, commercial, industrial or personal property. Have a another set of terms uh that will also be uh mentioned during this presentation. uh new growth, our additions to tax base from new
construction and property improvements. And this allows the levy to be increased to cover additional services resulting from new construction. New growth is not just new construction. It also consists of adding decks, porches, finished
basement, um other additions that add to the value of a property. uh the levy limit uh I have a table later on in this presentation but um the definition of it is the maximum dollar amount a town can raise in a fiscal year
and it's calculated by taking the prior year's levy we add 2 and a.5% we add new growth and then debt exclusion debt exclusion is like capital improvement uh excess levy capacity is the difference between the levy and the
levy limit And a debt exclusion is a temporary increase uh to the levy to pay for capital projects as voted. CIP and CIP shift. CIP are classes that include commercial, industrial, and
personal property. And the CIP shift is a factor uh determined by the select board if it's going to be a shift uh of the tax burden to the CIP classes. The role of the assessors and who determines the tax rate. The role of the
board of assessors is to value property for the purposes of equitable taxation based upon fair market value by what sales have taken place in the prior calendar year. And for fiscal 2026 valuations, they were based on calendar
year 2024 sales. and calendar 2023 sales were also utilized when classes of property have limited sales. This is done in accordance with state guidelines and reviewed by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. The
board of assesses does not set the tax rate. Residents who attend annual town meeting decide on what services the town of Lunberg provides and this determines how much the town will spend. These decisions impact the tax rate.
The tax rate is determined each year by the levy and the real and personal property total values. There's a formula that's on the left hand side that actually demonstrates that. Uh the next chart is our fiscal year
2026 real and personal property values. Uh for fiscal 2026, the assessed value for the town was 2 bill437,942740. And as you can see from the chart, 91% is residential, 4% as commercial, 2%
industrial, and 3% as personal property. Our fiscal 2026 valuation summary is this table has the classes the valuation and the percentages that were just shown in
shown in the prior slide. Our fiscal 2025 total value was 2 bill360,76,780 from this year's valuation. is a change of 3.3% in increase.
Uh our average single family value for fiscal 2026 is 517,296. Fiscal year average single family um for 2025 was 504,927. So there was an increase over the past
year of 2.4%. Um the average commercial and industrial value for fiscal 2026 is 449,158. For fiscal 2025 it was 435,910. Uh and that's a 3% increase. I did want
to mention that the this number uh for fiscal 2026 actually does include chapter land. So that actually is bringing the number down and um chapter land is classified as commercial property by the department of revenue.
The next chart has our fiscal 2026 valuation percentages. Um just shows over the past six years. Um and the CIP is in maroon, the residential in the blue. So, as you can see, it's been kind of consistent, dropping a percent over
the years. Uh 91% uh residential this year and 9% CIP. Uh the next slide is the fiscal 2026 tax levy summary. Uh as I mentioned in the definition earlier, what we do is we take last
year's levy limit which was uh 31,62,18. We add the 2 and 12% to that which totals $790,53. Our new growth for fiscal 2026 was $518,650. We add our debt exclusions uh which is 2,213,678
which are capital projects. There was no override. Our fiscal 2026 maximum allowable tax levy is 35,124489. Um and our excess levy capacity um we subtract that because we're not going to
utilize that. That's 42,493, which gives us our fiscal year 2026 tax levy of 35,81,996. Um the summary in comparison to last year uh the tax levy was 33,899,749
and the change between this year and last year is um a change of 1.1842 247 that's an increase of 3 and a.5%. So, our estimated fiscal 2026 single tax
rate um is projected to be $14.39. Again, we take our fiscal 2026 tax levy of 35,81,996. We divide that by our total valuation of 2 bill437942,740. we multiply it by a th00and and that
gives us the 1439 uh if it's a single rate that the select board adopts. Uh last year was a single rate uh of $14.36 per thousand and uh that would be a
change of 21% or 3 cents per thousand increase. Uh the average single family tax bill based on the average single family home of 517,296 would be $7,443.89 and again that would be at the estimated
tax rate of $14.39 per thousand. This is an increase of $192.99 over the last year's average single family tax bill, which was $7,250.89. And again, that had an assessed value
last year of $54,937. My next slide actually shows uh the fiscal 2026 estimated tax rates and if we did decide to split the tax rate, how that would impact Lunenburgg and as you can see in this chart, a CIP shift of
one means there's no change between the residential factor or the residential tax rate and the uh commercial tax rate which stays the same. But as you move down the chart, uh, if you drop to the next line, if we shift that to a 1.15 or
a residential factor of 9857, the residential tax rate decreases to $14.80. The commercial tax rate increases to $16.55 per thousand. And our maximum shift of
1.50, 50. If you look at that last line, uh if we shift that tax rate to a residential factor of N523, our residential tax rate drops to $13.70. Um and uh for a single family home of
$350,000, it would be $4,45252.50. um the difference of that for a $350,000 home is only a $22425 decrease. But if you look at the same
value for a commercial property, the commercial tax rate would increase to $21.58, um the total tax bill would be $7, uh $13.50, 50 which would be a $2,300.36.75cent
increase. So the implication to the commercial industrial personal property classes is a very large tax bill and it would discourage businesses from staying in town and also not encourage new businesses to come to Lunenburgg.
Uh we have a total of 351 communities in Massachusetts that have split tax rates. of these 351 112 uh would have um as I said split tax rates only seven of these have a CIP of
10% or less so they're mostly wealthy communities such as Lincoln Milton Sideberry Reading Gloucester Melrose and Stockbridge so considering that we have under 10% it doesn't make sense for us to split the
tax Right. And the next slide is our tax rate history. So again, it would be an estimated tax rate if it was a single rate of $14.39. Last year's was 1436. And then I just wanted to go over the
three um exemptions discounts that I would like to select board to also vote on tonight. Uh the first one is the residential exemption. And this exemption actually shifts the tax burden with the residential class from owners of moderately valued residential homes
to homes of higher residential values and nonowner occupied residences including apartments and vacant lands. Um the select board may adopt a discount of up to 35% of the average residential valuation. And if this was adopted, the
residential exemption uh would increase the residential tax rate. The higher rate actually creates a shift and reduces the taxes paid by homeowners with moderately uh valued properties. But then the shift of the taxes is then paid by owners of rental homes, vacation
homes, and higher valued homes. Um, it's not really recommended for Lunenburgg because it's ideal in cities that are larger and have many non-owner occupied properties like with apartment buildings such as Boston, Cambridge, Brooklyn, and
Somerville. And also for communities such as the Cape uh that have a lot of seasonal residents such as Barnstable, Nantucket, Province Town, Welf. And to date, there's currently has not been a residential exemption in Lunberg.
Uh the next one is the open space discount. Um there's currently no designated open space or what's referred to as class 2 property in Lunenburgg. So this discount doesn't apply, but we do offer discounts
uh to land owners such as the chapter land programs 61, 61A, and 61B. And the next uh exemption is a small commercial exemption and the select board may adopt an exemption of up to 10% of the value of eligible parcels.
And this is really designed to provide tax relief for small businesses that own real estate only. Least small businesses do not receive this tax benefit. And every small business that does not qualify would pay a higher tax rate.
The tax burden is shifted within the commercial industrial class and eligible properties uh to qualify for this uh must be included on a list provided annually to the assessors by the department of labor and workforce development. Um another criteria is that
they must have a valuation of less than $1 million and an average annual employment of 10 or fewer employees. And uh Luna brick has not adopted the small commercial exemption to date just because of the we're again we're under
the 10%. Um as far as the recommendation by the board of assessors uh the board of assessors recommends a single tax rate and they do not recommend adopting a residential exemption, an open space discount and a small commercial
exemption. And that is it for my presentation. I wanted to thank you all and uh I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. >> All right. Thank you so much, Linda. So, this is a public hearing, so we're going to start with questions from the board and then I'll open it up to the public
and then after that we will discuss and vote. So, are there any questions from uh board members? >> Nope. >> All right. Pretty straightforward. Anyone from the public want to speak on this? >> Okay. I do see Mr. Bowen on Zoom.
>> Hi, how's everybody doing? Can everybody hear me? Okay. It's John Bowen, 162 Highland Street. >> Yep, we can hear you. >> Good. I'm actually uh last year I said the same thing. Split tax rates are going to be good for the community. Uh if you look at the numbers she said, uh commercial properties will be paying $21
per thousand as opposed to dropping the residents down by about 60 uh per thousand. And I believe that at town meeting, did not we pass a deferral for persons in need that they don't have to pay taxes on their property deferred?
Uh, and that's deferred until their death or something. And I don't see anything in this presentation that's going to supplement any money to be able to pay for that over the period of time that that money is not being collected. So, it is a concern that I have. Um, I think that could be supplemented by uh
increasing the split tax rate. I grew up in Melrose. Um, uh, Melrose doesn't have a lot of commercial properties. They got in a couple of industrial parks. Um, uh, they don't have a lot of businesses except for in downtown Main Street. They're pretty much so a, uh, uh, a very large
residential community. Uh, their comparison to population to us, uh, I believe their population is higher than ours. I believe they um they're very close to Boston as well, which keeps them a suburb of about a 20-minute drive with no traffic, a 40-minute drive with
traffic where we're a little bit different in demographics to that town. Uh and that's just my uh just just my comments about utilizing that as a particular uh town. Uh I know Katherine Clark who is a representative uh uh from Massachusetts actually grew up there and
actually was uh involved in politics here in Massachusetts from that town. Um, and I know her and uh uh I know she had made arguments uh with regard to the tax rate in that community and her time there uh that the split tax rate uh does
work and the split tax rate what it does is it offsets uh services uh for the people in town and I know the senior center needs some services uh which benefit the people and I think that the offset in the tax rate will be able to benefit and help some other payments things like that like maybe paying for a
parking instead of taking a capital plan expense or any other kind of expense. I mean, there's a lot of money there in a $10 increase uh to commercial buildings in town that would be able to benefit the community uh as a whole. And if you're a commercial business and you want to be in this community, but you don't want to participate a little extra
in the community, then you should move somewhere else. And I heard Fitchburg's looking. So, Fitchburg has an awful lot of commercial space that they could move into. And they wouldn't be that far from people in Lunberg to be able to buy in their business. just my comments and just my concerns. If anybody wants to comment on my comment, I would like to
hear it. But I think that a split tax rate is absolutely necessary. Um, and I think it does benefit the community. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Bowen. Anyone else from the public? >> All right. I'm not seeing anyone. All right. Last chance. Any other questions from the board?
>> For Linda, >> I was interested in uh Linda's response to the the public comment. >> Oh, sure. Uh as I mentioned in the the slide uh that had the split tax rate uh you can just see the difference in the tax rate
from the residential versus the commercial. We have under 10% commercial valuation in this town. If we increase their tax rate even to $20 per thousand, it's going to some of these small businesses and drive them out of
town. But I don't think we want to do that. We do want to have some business here. Um, and for the $224 that it would save the residential, it's going to penalize the commercial by $2,300 if we if we did the the maximum
shift. So, that's just my comment. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions? Is there a motion to close the public hearing? >> So moved. Second. >> Second. >> Those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously and the public hearing is
now closed. So now we can decide if we prefer a single or split tax rate. Where's the board on this? >> I concur with um Linda's proposals. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. I also think single and we last year at the budget task force Linda
presented and we looked we questioned the the single and split came to the same conclusion. >> Uh I would agree with the principal assessor. I also uh agree with um select board member MKI too. In the budget task force, I had watched those meetings and
they talked about how we really need to increase the commercial base before we even consider uh splitting the tax rate. >> I also agree. >> Yep. >> I also agree on the exemptions by the way. >> Yeah, that was my next question. >> I'm in agreement as well. And on the exemptions, are we in agreement with the
recommendation here? >> Yes. Yeah, >> I think one of the things that we've at least I've constantly heard is how hard it is for small businesses or for businesses to come into Lunberg. And if we want to grow that, I think we need to before we even consider a shift like this, we we need to work on that >> for sure. Excuse me. All right. Any
other discussion from the board? >> Okay. So, I will move that we adopt a single tax rate for all classes of property in the town of Lunenburgg and that we do not adopt a residential exemption, an open space discount, or a small commercial exemption.
>> Second. >> Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you so much, Linda. >> Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thanks for coming in. Have a good night. >> Yes, you too. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. >> You too. Happy Thanksgiving.
All right, we have some warrants. We have an accounts payable warrant in the amount of $479,658.86. I'll ask for action items while that's going down. Anyone have any action items? >> Nope. >> Okay. All right. So, that's making its way
down. And that was it on our agenda tonight. So, I'm going to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and we will see you all next week. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make a motion to adjourn at 7:33 p.m. >> Second. >> Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I.
>> Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously.