Auburn's Route 12 Has Traffic, Little Else
Why a prime spot for development is in decline
Southbridge Street in Auburn, also known as Route 12, should be a magnet for new business development.
After all, Southbridge Street is where the region's major transportation arteries, including I-290, the Massachusetts Turnpike and Route 20, coalesce, carrying thousands of motorists along the roadway each day.
But the stretch of Southbridge Street in Auburn is anything but vibrant. It's a dated and unattractive hodgepodge that is dying slowly, thanks in no small part to an unfair local tax arrangement and indifferent town officials, according to business leaders.
"It has tremendous traffic flow. You'd figure businesses would be beating down the door saying, 'let me in,' but they're not," said the head of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce's business development task force, Matteo Gentile, owner of One Star Realty on Route 12, just over the Worcester line in Auburn.
Gentile said the most serious problem facing Southbridge Street, and Auburn's business community in general, is the town's dual-rate tax system. Currently, the rate for commercial property is twice the rate for residential property and higher than that of surrounding towns like Millbury.
"We took a bunch of pictures of all the vacancies" as part of an effort to get Auburn's two-tax system repealed, but it didn't work, Gentile said. For the last 25 years, Auburn's government has assumed that the town's proximity to major highways would be enough to attract businesses, business owners said.
But Auburn town officials - like many in the region - say they're doing the best they can to balance the need to support economic development, while keeping taxes low and quality of life high for residents.
But perceived favor to residential taxpayers means "businesses along Route 12 are leaving and they're not coming back, or they're not being replaced by anything else," Gentile said.
Get Your Kicks In Millbury
Asking commercial landowners to pay more in taxes than they would in neighboring towns has a lot to do with Route 12's appearance and inability to attract new businesses, but its problems go deeper than that, said Auburn native Deborah Wilczynski, manager of the Webster Five Cents Savings Bank's Southbridge Street branch.
Wilczynski is also ex-officio chamber of commerce president.
"As far as I know, there are no plans to improve the look" of Southbridge Street, Wilczynski said. Simple tasks like improving the way Southbridge Street looks are beyond those who govern the town of about 16,000 residents, she said. The town does have a streetscape improvement project planned for Southbridge Street near the intersection with Route 20.
Auburn's government and elected officials are stuck in a small town way of thinking despite the enormous opportunity afforded Auburn by its location, and the fact that newer, high-profile retail businesses are choosing to locate in Millbury instead of Auburn, Wilczynski said.
Auburn's current commercial/industrial tax rate is $20.89 per $1,000 of assessed value. Its residential rate is $10.41 per $1,000. Jan. 1, those rates will go up to $21.83 and $10.91 respectively.
Millbury, which borders Auburn to the east, taxes residential property owners at a rate of $10.44 per $1,000 and commercial/industrial property owners at a rate of $11.33 per $1,000. In 2008, Millbury will use a single-rate, $11.41 per $1,000, system.
Gentile said he drove over to the shiny, new Shoppes at Blackstone Valley during one recent holiday shopping weekend and business was booming compared to the dowdy Auburn Mall and Southbridge Street in general.
Elizabeth Prouty, chairman of Auburn's board of selectmen, said the board's responsibility is solely to the town's residents and keeping the residential tax rate low trumps all else.
"We are unwilling to change that system," she said. She said the board of selectmen asked the town accountant to figure out how much the average residential tax bill would increase if a flat tax were implemented and the board was told $900.
"It isn't worth it, and it isn't more fair to everybody," she said. "I know (commercial property owners) want a flat tax rate. Go to Millbury."
Other municipalities also have sharp differentials between their residential and commercial tax rates, including Worcester and Framingham. Businesses in both cities pay a rate twice as high as homeowners.
According to Charles O'Connor, Auburn's town administrator, the town has a "development coordination group" that meets on a regular basis "so that all boards and commissions are at the same table." He said the town also has an economic development commission that is "in dire need of input and collaboration from business."
Collaboration with the board of selectmen, which sets the tax rate, may be more of a challenge for businesses and commercial property owners.
Prouty said many vacant properties along Southbridge Street are the result of corporate decisions to close Auburn locations, and "you can't blame the tax rate for that." Outside of that, "it's bustling around the mall," she said.
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