Is It Fair That Attleboro Businesses Pay Less, Homeowners Pay More?

Hello to all of my fellow Attleboro residents, I would like to welcome you formally to the new Attleboro Real Estate blog here on the Attleboro Patch. I consider it an honor and a privilege being a contributor to this amazing website! Always feel free to leave your honest opinions about the topic at hand, or the blogger (Me), in general. Don’t worry, I have some pretty thick skin and can handle your razzing.

I have recently read a letter to the editor of Patch from a fellow citizen concerned with the city and how they are offering "tax free deals" to business. Apparently they were upset that Attleboro had dropped the business/commercial real estate tax rate $1.33(-6.5%), and increased the residential rate $1.00 (8.9 percent). In summation – businesses pay less, residents pay more. Overall, I can see why this would piss most of us off. Who the heck wants to pay more taxes? And in tough economic times it’s a slap in the face to most. For the average resident it equals about $265 a year, or $66 a quarter, or $22 a month. Nothing to sneeze at!

Is this the price to attract more business to Attleboro? Comparatively speaking, Attleboro’s tax rate is not that bad, at least in my eyes. Consider Mansfield, at $14.31, do they get a lot for their money? Or how about Rehoboth at $10.13, but hey they have no streetlights (among other things). Attleboro was the lowest in the area (besides Rehoboth) before the change, and even with the change we’re still middle of the pack. I like living in a city with more firefighters than police officers. I like being 30 minutes outside Providence and 45 minutes from Boston, but should I have to keep paying for it?

What will the new business bring? Are we attracting a new Texas Instruments, or a new Balfour? Seems to me, as in most companies, they were fair weather friends. Or are we helping the small business more? In which case they’re not going to be hiring Attleboro residents by the thousands, so what is the payoff?

Being in the Real Estate profession, I work with a lot of buyers and sellers. Some are very opinionative about the tax issue, while others could care less. First-time homebuyers are not usually particular. Simply because they don’t have kids, aren’t purchasing expensive property, or don’t know/care about the taxes they pay and what they are used for. You know someone deep into their career, a few kids in school and a lifetime of paying the tax man, they care what they’re paying in taxes.

I was working with a couple a few months ago leaving Norton and moving into North Attleboro. I asked why they would leave Norton? I really like Norton, very good school system, no MBTA (go the other way) and it’s not in the middle of nowhere. They replied simply, "there are more services for taxes paid." It’s funny that Norton has the higher tax rate!

I would love to hear some ideas and feelings about the tax rate, and “the people’s city hall.” Let me know what you think!!