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Council reviews FY27 revenue after county lowers apartment assessment; staff may hold constant-yield hearing
Summary
Town staff told the Cheverly council a county/state reassessment reduced the assessed value of a local apartment complex by about $14 million, reducing expected apartment tax revenue and prompting staff to plan a constant-yield public hearing; staff also reviewed projected revenues, red-light/speed-camera income, and reimbursable grants.
At a March 19 special meeting, Town Administrator Delaine Galloway and Town Treasurer Diane Mach led the council through an initial review of FY27 revenues and flagged an unanticipated county/state reassessment that reduced the assessable base for a local apartment complex from about $57 million to $43 million.
Treasurer Diane Mach said the county’s action included a prior-year abatement and an approximately $100,000 refund, and that the combined effect will reduce apartment-related property-tax revenue going forward (staff estimated apartment tax revenue falling from about $432,000 to roughly $332,000). Galloway said the town received notice the same day and will share the state’s explanatory letter with council.
Galloway explained the concept of a constant-yield tax rate — the tax rate that would produce the same revenue as the prior year despite changes in assessed value — and said the county’s reassessment could require a separate constant-yield public hearing for the apartments. "So we would have to raise taxes from 0.75 to 0.9835" on apartments to reach constant yield, Galloway said in the presentation.
Staff projected total real-estate-tax revenue at current rates of about $5,000,781 without any tax-rate changes and placed total FY27 revenue at about $10,585,735, noting some large earmarks and grants are reimbursable and not guaranteed. Other line items highlighted included local income tax (about $1.3 million), highway-user revenue ($363,000 provided by the state), and automated-enforcement revenues (speed cameras estimated at $1.3 million and red-light cameras at $620,000). Chief Morris warned the council that lower-quality camera images in low light have led to dismissals and that the police department plans to solicit proposals from other providers, which could cause a short transition period during which cameras might be offline.
Council members stressed that filled positions — notably in police staffing — will increase expenditures and that the draft $10.5 million revenue figure leaves little margin. Galloway said staff will schedule any required constant-yield hearing in coordination with the town clerk and will continue working on capital-improvement planning, including a proposed fleet-management program to stabilize long-term costs.
Quote: "This was nothing that we could have forecast, mayor and council," Galloway said of the reassessment; she added staff will share the state's explanatory letter with council members.
What’s next: staff will circulate the county/state letter explaining the assessment change, schedule any required constant-yield public hearing, and continue departmental expenditure reviews ahead of later budget meetings.
