Council asks finance, assessor and solicitor to study raising residential tax exemption to 35%

The Malden City Council on Feb. 4 approved a resolve requesting the finance committee, city assessor and city solicitor study raising the city’s residential tax exemption from 30% to 35% and the feasibility of expanding related protections for seniors, veterans, widows and residents of qualifying affordable units.

Councilor Spadafore sponsored the resolve and said the goal is to provide tax relief to owner‑occupants such as seniors, veterans and individuals with disabilities while the council explores options that could shift tax burdens within the residential class. City Assessor Nathan (Nate) Kramer attended the meeting and explained the residential exemption is a shift within the residential tax class: “We’re collecting the same amount of money. It’s just shifting the burden to those higher value properties,” he said, and he noted the city must analyze distributional impacts before any change.

Councilors agreed to add qualifying deed‑restricted affordable units to the list of potential beneficiaries and to ask the finance committee to prepare an analysis of winners and losers under a 35% exemption scenario. Councilor McDonald reiterated that adopting the exemption does not increase total revenue but shifts which residential owners pay more or less.

The council passed the resolve by unanimous voice vote and asked the finance committee to report back with distributional data, affected-property counts, and any state requirements for exceeding the statutory limits if the council wanted to pursue changes beyond 35% in the future.

The assessor told councilors a prior presentation (fiscal 2021 data) is on the assessor’s website and agreed to provide updated modeling to show who would benefit from a change to 35% and whether the proposed additional categories (veterans, widows, qualifying affordable units) could be implemented under state law.