ashland's funding history...How did we get into this fiscal situation?


Revenue Issues

  • The State of Massachusetts under funds Ashland’s Chapter 70 allocation and has for the past 15 years.  We receive less than neighboring towns and far less than the State average.
  • Ashland has the lowest tax base in MetroWest among bedroom communities. This has been an advantage for the residents, but a hardship for the infrastructure of the town.
  • Ashland has never passed an operational override, and with the exception of Westborough which enjoys a larger commercial tax base, all other MetroWest towns have.

How Does Ashland Compare With Other Metrowest and Surrounding Communites?

Below is a table that lists the average value of a single family home and the average tax bill for a single family home and ranks the tax bill from the most expensive to least expensive within Massachusetts. This information was taken from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services Databank. The data is from fiscal year 2007. 

All towns in MetroWest except for Ashland and Westborough have approved at least one and sometimes more operational override(s).


MetroWest Towns with Tax Bill Ranking (2008)
 

Town

Average Value

Tax Bill

State Rank

Sherborn

 770,925 12,073 2

Wayland

 652,315 9,772 7

Sudbury

 683,843 9,758 8

Southborough

576,642

7,231

27

Hopkinton

518,552

7,338

25

Westborough

455,046

6,689

34

Holliston *

414,224

6,015

44

Ashland

413,165

5,338

56

Natick

482,407

4,829

73

Framingham

385,728

4,821

76

The ranking number shows how a town ranks as compared to all 351 cities/towns in the Commonwealth.  A ranking of 1 indicates the most expensive town in the Commonwealth.” Average value” is the average single family residence home value as determined by the Massachusett Department of Revenue.

The information for this document is based on data taken from the website listed below, Mass. Dept. of Revenue, Property Tax Information, Single Family Homes, 2007 and 2008.

http://mass.gov/?pageID=dorterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Local+Officials&L2=Municipal+Data+and+Financial+Management&L3=Data+Bank+Reports&sid=Ador&b=terminalcontent&f=dls_mdmstuf_proptax&csid=Ador