Selectmen keep 1.30 commercial shift, defer residential exemption for new study

LINCOLN — September 12, 2011 — Lincoln selectmen kept the commercial tax shift at 1.30 and previewed a hard fall debate over capital planning. The board voted 3-0 on all four Board of Assessors recommendations, setting the FY12 residential rate at $13.81 per thousand and the commercial rate at $18.17, with an average residential tax bill rising 7.7 percent. Assessors Chair John Robinson said new growth fell to $108,551 from $734,109, and a roughly $300,000 abatement at The Groves — 35 percent occupied on June 30 — drove about 19 percent of the increase. Selectman Peter Braun won agreement to form a small committee to revisit a residential exemption and study quarterly billing. Superintendent Michael Brandmeyer told the board the school building project, hit with an Aug. 4 MSBA letter calling its scope too large, has been cut about 10 percent — roughly 16,000 square feet — from the original $58.5 million Option 5, with a fall 2012 town vote now expected.