Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

November 30, 2015

Worcester tax debate continues

Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty proposed a compromise tax classification that fell short of adoption by one vote last week.

The annual debate over the city’s tax classification is set to be taken back up Tuesday, with the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and some city councilors continuing to push Worcester towards a single tax rate.

The City Council delayed their vote on Worcester’s tax rate last week to this Tuesday. The vote will determine both this year’s increases and how those increases are split between commercial and residential.

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce has endorsed line 177 in the tax table that would increase that burden equally, but that fell short of the six votes needed at last Tuesday’s meeting, according to the Chamber. An alternative was proposed by Mayor Joseph Petty, which was seen as a fair compromise by the Chamber that said it would still move forward the shift to a single tax rate that the chamber has been working towards for five years. The line 191 proposal would have yielded an average tax increase of $550 for businesses. That proposal fell short by one vote.

Other proposals, deemed less savory by the Chamber, were also debated. These included tax increases that would lean more heavily on businesses, such as a proposal by City Councilor Konnie Lukes that would embrace the lowest possible residential rate and lead to an average increase of $1,387 a year for businesses.

The City Council will be debating this issue Tuesday night.

Sign up for Enews

WBJ Web Partners

Related Content

0 Comments

Order a PDF