Board of Assessors says FY26 tax bills used wrong CPA rate; corrections underway

The Holyoke Board of Assessors notified the city council on Jan. 6 that fiscal-year 2026 tax bills were generated with an incorrect Community Preservation Act (CPA) assessment rate.

The assessors’ communication (dated Jan. 5, 2026) said staff discovered on Jan. 2 that a 1.5% rate had been used in the billing vendor’s system; the correct rate, set by a ballot initiative approved last November, is 1.0 percent. The assessor’s office said the error stemmed from a miscommunication with the vendor that produces bills once the council votes the final rate.

“Upon discovery of the error, this office immediately began working with the tax collector and treasurer to resolve the issue,” the communication states. The assessors’ office said most corrective work had been completed at the time of the letter and that corrected information will be reflected on fourth-quarter tax bills mailed in April. Taxpayers who already paid under the incorrect calculation will see a credit on their updated statement.

Councilor McGrath Smith noted that the city has relied heavily on staff working in the right positions and that the assessor’s office has been handling the correction while its chief assessor is on medical leave. He recommended residents contact Tax Collector Laura Wilson for questions about individual accounts; the clerk also confirmed corrected bills will be available for download via the city’s UniPay system.

Councilor Reagan commended Grant Sloschstein of the assessors’ office for rapid correction and described the issue as a human error in Munis rather than a complex systems failure.

Next steps: The assessor’s office and the tax collector will continue recalculation and post corrected statements; taxpayers with questions are advised to contact the tax collector’s office.