GREENFIELD — The city will have a single property tax rate of $19.31 per $1,000 valuation for fiscal year 2026 following discussion among city councilors on Wednesday regarding whether to tax all properties equally or opt for a split tax rate that would increase taxes on commercial properties while lowering them for residents.
The FY26 tax rate represents a 1.3% decrease from the FY25 tax rate of $19.56 per $1,000 valuation. According to Chief Assessor Christina Summers, the average tax bill for a single-family homeowner will be $5,793, with the average value of a single-family home being roughly $300,000, up from $286,497 this time last year.
In addition to opting for a single tax rate, councilors also voted against a residential tax exemption that would have reduced taxes on lower-valued, owner-occupied homes by increasing the burden on higher-valued and non-owner-occupied properties.
A number of councilors argued that levying a heavier tax on landlords might backfire on tenants, as it could result in increased rent prices.
“Looking at the chart, it’s really attractive. It looks like rich people are getting taxed more and poor people are getting taxed less — fantastic. This is how it should be. Except it wouldn’t [happen that way],” Council Vice President John Garrett said in response to the presentation by Summers and Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman. “It would, in fact, actually bite those who have the least means the most. We don’t know what a landlord is going to do, but they’re not in that business not to make money.”
Others, such as Precinct 9 City Councilor Derek Helie, noted that Greenfield isn’t a city where the ultra-wealthy choose to live. He argued that those in the city who have more valuable houses, such as himself, bought their homes for a cheaper price years ago and worked hard to maintain them and ensure their values increased.
Helie argued that the middle and upper middle classes, who secured mortgages with low interest rates years ago and have seen a relatively stagnant income since, would be unfairly burdened by the tax hike that would come with a residential tax exemption.
“There’s no rich people, truly rich people, in Greenfield. There’s people like me, that work 80 hours a week raising a family of six that bought my house for $220,000 back in 2010 and has come home after work and has worked in his house for four or five hours after working a 15-hour day to get it to where it is,” Helie said. “I am not rich. I have a hard work ethic. … There’s a lot of people in Greenfield that have that same philosophy. To say, ‘Let’s charge them more because they put in a little more effort,’ it just isn’t fair to me.”
The council also rejected a split tax rate, which would have increased taxes on commercial properties while lowering them for residents.
Helie argued that the council should not consider a split tax rate until the city’s real estate is made up of at least 30% commercial property. The city traditionally has a single tax rate, and Precinct 1 City Councilor Katherine Golub mentioned she hasn’t heard from constituents asking for the city to change course on the subject.
“I haven’t received any emails asking to change [from a single tax rate to a split tax rate] or vote differently in support of it or against it,” Golub said. “If there are people who want us to change this or keep this, please let us know, because this is one of the most important votes that we take and we don’t hear from really anyone about it.”
Last month, Summers announced to the council that the city has seen an estimated $8.3 million in new growth, or newly taxable property, this year. This is comparable to what was added last year and consists of roughly $4.6 million in personal property growth, $35,000 in commercial property growth and $3.7 million in residential growth.
“Our assessment values are tied to the market value and the market value has gone up about 1.2%, according to the data that we have,” Summers said at last month’s City Council meeting. “We’ve had a lot of people that are renovating their houses. We’ve had some new builds and all that kind of stuff. We also have some new personal property accounts.”
Acknowledging that the city’s new growth has played a role in reducing the tax rate for two consecutive years, Precinct 6 City Councilor Patricia Williams thanked Geisman and Summers for their efforts to keep property taxes affordable for seniors.
“One of the things that we learned in the last mayoral election is when folks went door to door, what people were saying is their biggest concern was their ability to stay in their homes because of taxes,” Williams said. “It seems to me that this would be a huge benefit for the residential homeowners here, particularly folks on a fixed income. This is a great step forward in terms of people’s ability to stay in their homes. As a senior citizen, I truly appreciate that being on fixed income matters, so I want to thank you for doing this work.”