Saugus close to setting tax rate

SAUGUS – A major hurdle in setting the tax rate has been cleared, but it still hasn’t paved the way to set the rate.Town Meeting members voted Monday to fund the teachers’ contract, which had prevented the town from setting a tax rate before the year’s end. While that detail has been taken care of, Town Meeting member Andrew Bisignani said there are still other steps to take.”We had to balance the budget, which we did,” he said. “Once we balanced the budget we have to send the paper work into the DOR (Department of Revenue). Now we’re waiting to hear from the DOR.”If the DOR is satisfied that the town has met its budget obligations, Bisignani said he would be able to send out an estimated tax bill. He also admitted that, truth be told, he’d rather send out an estimated bill at this point than an actual bill.”An estimated bill is due in 30 days,” he said. “An actual bill wouldn’t be due until May.”Bisignani was forced to borrow upwards of $7 million last week to cover the operational shortfall caused by the town’s failure to set a tax rate.While the interest rates were considerably lower than expected, it will still cost taxpayers approximately $90,000 in interest charges on the short-term loan.Bisignani said he expects to hear from the DOR early next week in regards to whether he is cleared to send an estimated tax bill.”Then we have to go through the process of printing the bills, which will be another week,” he said. “Then we’ll send them out.”If allowed to send the estimated bill, Bisignani said he would expect the actual rate to be set shortly thereafter. The Board of Selectmen, which approves the tax rate, doesn’t meet again until Feb. 12.Once the rate is set, Bisignani said, “Then we’ll get the fourth quarter tax bill ready. That will go out around April first and be due in 30 days as well.”