Holyoke assessors present FY24 property values; residents and taxpayers urge business growth and relief

The Holyoke City assessor’s office presented Fiscal Year 2024 property valuations and tax-rate options at a tax classification hearing on Oct. 26, saying overall values and new growth increased and offering the City Council a range of levy and rate scenarios.

Assessor Debbie Burnell said residential values rose about 4.4% from the prior year, commercial values rose about 3.2%, industrial about 6% and personal property about 11.9%. She said the office’s compiled data are submitted to and approved by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue before the classification hearing can proceed.

The assessor said the city’s fiscal-year levy limit is about $64.8 million and that the auditor and mayor’s budget work produced a lower figure the office used for calculations (about $63.6 million). Burnell presented single-rate illustrations that included $24.44 per $1,000 of valuation based on a $64 million levy and $23.88 per $1,000 using the recap levy figure in the packet. She also noted illustrative average tax bills and class-specific averages the council received in its packet.

Speakers during public comment pressed the council to restore and grow the commercial tax base. Helene Florio of the Holyoke Taxpayers Association said, “the businesses have carried the load, the main load on the tax revenue for many, many years,” and urged policy changes to attract and retain businesses. Several speakers called attention to recent and ongoing developments—named by the assessor as Holyoke Landing (including a Popeye’s), a mental-health facility on Lower Westfield Road, and the Lynch School redevelopment—as contributors to this year’s new growth; Burnell said much of a project’s taxable value is counted only for the percent completed as of Jan. 1, so additional value can appear in subsequent years as projects finish.

Councilors and commenters discussed how prior council votes and permit conditions affected tax treatment of particular projects. Councilor Bartley noted the body’s earlier votes requiring some developments to be taxed at the commercial rate and said those votes produced measurable new-growth revenue. Commenters and Councilor Kevin Jourdain raised concerns about the burden on homeowners, especially seniors, and asked whether the residential-runup is likely to continue. Burnell said 2023 sales data (used for FY24 assessments) show prices holding but with fewer transactions, and cautioned that a future year’s trend could moderate the high increases seen this cycle.

Other topics raised in public comment and staff responses included: the capture of omitted assessments (the assessor said Mira Vista was omitted in a prior year and has been placed on the rolls and billed), personal-property work the office is conducting in coordination with Tax Collector Laura Wilson to locate businesses not previously reporting, cyclical inspections used to discover unpermitted additions or other changes on properties, and the timing for releasing property values online (Burnell said values will be posted in January and taxpayers may call the assessor’s office to ask about their new valuation in the meantime).

Speakers pointed to long-term shifts in the tax base: Michael Sullivan and others compared Holyoke’s commercial-rate trends to neighboring communities and described a loss of commercial valuation at the mall and elsewhere. Carl Eager, speaking as a private citizen and redevelopment authority member, related a past instance where a planned corporate investment reportedly did not proceed after the city denied a certificate to sell tobacco products; he used the example to argue the city needs to be more business-friendly to recapture lost valuation. Several public commentators said attracting more commercial valuation or finding alternate revenues is necessary to relieve homeowner tax burdens.

The hearing did not record a final council vote on classification or a specific shift percentage; Burnell said the packet includes minimum residential factors and the council must decide whether to adopt a single rate or shift part of the levy among classes. Councilors discussed using the lower recap levy (about $63.6 million) produced by the auditor and mayor’s budget rather than the full statutory limit. Burnell also noted abatements remain possible after taxpayers receive their actual bills post-January.

The meeting closed after additional public comments urging spending restraint, alternative revenues and attention to households facing inflation and higher interest rates.