Selectmen accept 1.30 commercial tax shift, will study larger shift and residential exemption

LINCOLN -- October 19, 2009, Lincoln selectmen keep 1.30 commercial tax shift but agree to study a larger shift and a residential exemption. The Board of Selectmen on Oct. 19 unanimously adopted all four Board of Assessors recommendations, keeping the commercial-industrial factor at 1.30, declining an open space discount, residential exemption and small commercial exemption, while directing Town Administrator Tim Higgins to convene a study group before next year's hearing. Selectman Sarah Mattes argued the largest commercial owners, including Lincoln North (about half the commercial levy on a roughly $68 million base), Verizon, National Grid and the Star property, should pay more given pending South Lincoln streetscape investments; going to the 1.50 maximum would shift another $100,000 and cut the average residential bill by $80 to $90. Overall property values fell 5 percent this year. The board also awarded Codman Barn A contracts of $18,500 to Campbell Construction and $36,000 to Eagle Point Builders, well under a combined $100,000 budget, and heard that the New England Deaconess project is back on track with $800,000 to $1 million in eventual annual tax revenue.