Can Our New Town Manager Lower Home Taxes $1,030?
YES, if he brings our taxes down To “only 40%” over the state average
By Len Mead 7/10/2009
James Malloy, our new Town Manager from Sturbridge is now leading Westborough.
His experience in Sturbridge suggests he could actually lower our average single family home taxes $1,000 for every homeowner. In Fiscal 2010 our average tax is estimated to be over $7,000.
How? By controlling tax and spending growth to get our average home taxes down to “only 40%” over the state average – similar to how he ran Sturbridge. The 40% “over the state average” figure assumes our town is, say, 40% above the state average.
You see, Dear Reader, for over 15 years average Sturbridge home taxes have been below the current state average of $4,110 – compared to our FY ’09 $6,784 which is 65% higher. The following graph shows the comparative picture.
When I mentioned how Sturbridge was somehow managed by Mr. Malloy to cost taxpayers less than the state average, one response was something like, “Well, what’s missing – what do they not do?”
A good question.
One has to assume Sturbridge has the same public safety needs, education needs and public works needs as we do – but on a smaller scale.
So here’s a comparison of the numbers from the “At a Glance” All Municipal Spreadsheets Section of the MA Dept of Revenue website: http://www.mass.gov . It turns out Sturbridge isn’t “missing” anything.
| Westborough | Sturbridge |
| Westborough | Sturbridge |
2007 Population | 18,459 | 9,102 | ’09 Unemployment | 5.5% | 7.6% |
’99 Per Capita Income | $35,063 | $25,559 | Reg. Vehicles | 19,647 | 10,201 |
Single Family Parcels | 3,828 | 2,968 | Assessed Home | $437.650 | $301,811 |
Single Family Tax Bill | $6,784 | $3,821 | FY ’08 Revenue | $87 Million | $28 Million |
Police/Fire Expenses | $6 Million | $3 Million | School Expenses* | $40 Million | $16 Million |
’08 Enrollment | 3,446 | 801 | Spending/Student* | $11,732 | $19,499 |
% Schol Spending/Total* | 47% | 55% | % Home Taxes/All | 60% | 79% |
% Business Taxes Higher | 0% | 16%** | ’08 Reg. Voters | 11,966 | 6,448 |
* School Expenditures reported to the state and shown here do NOT reflect school benefits and school debt service expenses. Thus, educational expenditures are significantly understated, which suits the voracious monopoly teacher unions just fine.
** For those thinking Sturbridge keeps overall taxes so low by gouging businesses more than homeowners, note Westborough’s homeowners pay only 60% of the total compared with 79% in Sturbridge.
Is comparing Westborough to Sturbridge “Apples Vs Oranges?” Maybe. But in Sturbridge Jim Malloy showed it is actually possible to run a town with home taxes below the state average, not 65% higher.
So why not demand that Mr. Malloy use his Sturbridge skills to set a goal of reducing our home taxes “down to” only 40% greater than the state average over, say, a 5-year period?
To get our taxes down from 65% over the state average to 40%, our spending and tax growth must be controlled to below what tax growth Prop 2.5 allows for the next five years at a minimum. This is not an easy task, but certainly a worthwhile goal in these hard economic times.
Friends, it will also require answering and refuting squeals from public employees who believe they are “entitled” to pay and benefit raises just because taxes to fund them can be raised without a Prop 2.5 override --- all the while private sector workers are losing their jobs and benefits completely in the Obama recession.
Success will mean more fairness to taxpayers and a savings to every homeowner of an average of $1,030 in current numbers -- making Westborough more affordable for everyone.