The Wellesley tax rate for fiscal year 2019 is down to $11.57 per $1,000 of assessed value, the lowest rate since FY2015. That doesn’t mean tax bills will fall, however, since assessed value of properties in town continues to balloon.

So residents are looking at a median tax bill of $13,028, up about $470 over this past year.

(Note: The Massachusetts Department of Revenue still needs to approve the tax rate, and that likely will happen this week.)

The tax rate could have been higher if not for new growth (new construction, remodeling, etc.) boosting the overall assessed value of property in town, according to the Board of Assessors.

Wellesley does have a lower tax rate than some surrounding communities such as Natick ($12.71 for FY19), but also has more expensive houses on average, and thus higher tax bills.

The Board of Selectmen voted in favor of keeping a single tax rate in town among residential and commercial tax payers. Residential property makes up the large majority of total property value in Wellesley, so even if the town went to a tax classification system that charged businesses a higher rate than residents, the median tax bill reduction of residents would be relatively small in the grand scheme of things, according to the Board of Assessors.

You can get into the gory details of all this via this Wellesley Public Media recording of the Board of Assessors presentation at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday.

And be sure to look for your tax bills in among your holiday cards and end-of-year donation solicitations.

tax rate