Property tax bill to rise by $78

LYNN – The average single-family home?s tax bill will increase by $78 over the next year with an increase in home values signaling a surge that could accelerate next year, said the city?s top budget official.Property value calculations prepared for City Council review as soon as next Tuesday show assessed values for single-family homes rose during the last year from $215,600 to $217,900, an almost 10 percent increase that stands in contrast to a drop in single-family home values from $225,400 in 2011.?We should see values on single-families rebound substantially next year,” said Peter Caron, the city?s acting chief financial officer.The average single-family bill rose from $3,655 to $3,733 over the last year, Caron said, adding the property tax increase will be spread over bills sent out to residents over the next year.The council is tentatively scheduled next Tuesday to take its annual vote adopting the minimum residential factor after Caron presents new tax rate information to councilors. The factor is a state-set calculation intended to minimize the tax-raising burden on the owners of 20,000 local residential properties.City bills are paid with money raised from property taxes combined with state tax dollars. The current city budget is roughly $264 million.Caron said the residential tax rate will be $17.13 per $1,000 assessed value up from $16.93 per $1,000 value.The new commercial tax rate is $34.81 per $1,000, up from $34.55 per $1,000. Caron said the commercial rate “has changed minimally.” He acknowledged Lynn?s commercial tax rate is high compared to many communities, but comparable to rates set by other older, industrial Massachusetts cities.Cities and towns are required under state law to determine the full fair cash value of local properties. City assessors examine property sales information to build what Caron described as a computer model for use in determining values.He said sales information reviewed by assessors highlighted a jump in local condominium values. The 4,600 two-family and three-family residential properties have also increased in value with Caron noting that multi-family home prices “rebounded from the impact of the foreclosure crisis.”Local real estate agent Eileen Jonah said her office?s sales information parallels the city?s.?Two and three-families have definitely gone up 20 percent in the last six or seven months. The inventory is so low it?s driving prices up – there?s just been a run on them,” Jonah said.Caron said rising multi-family prices mirror declining local home foreclosure statistics. He said the city saw an average 38 foreclosures a month in 2010 compared to “three or four” a month recently.?Because banks are no longer selling off foreclosed property at reduced prices that has stabilized the two- and three-family market,” he said.Jonah said investment property owners and extended families are among recent multi-family home buyers with large families buying a two- or three-family home, living in an apartment and renting another apartment to relatives.Council action on the residential factor coincides with state certification of the city?s free cash – money from tax receipts in excess of amounts projected by city budget makers.?I expect it to be higher than $6 million,” Caron said.