HELLO WENHAM/Hamilton NEIGHBORS
We are a group of Wenham/Hamilton citizens concerned about our towns and the continuously increasing cost to live here.
We are a group of Wenham/Hamilton citizens concerned about our towns and the continuously increasing cost to live here.
Important News:
The 2023 Annual Town Elections were held on Thursday, April 6th
Although we did not get the results we were hoping for, we were able to inform a lot of people and raise awareness of how our taxes just keep moving up and up. It looks like the $15 million athletic field project will now move forward after both towns voted for the Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion to again increase our taxes to pay for this.
Here are the complete election results from our town websites:
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2023 Annual Town Meeting Results:
The Hamilton and Wenham town meetings were held on Saturday, April 1st and both meetings were packed with well over 300 people. We did not attend the Hamilton meeting, but were at the Wenham meeting. All of the Wenham Warrant Articles were passed by the residents in attendance. We believe the same is true for Hamilton and we are hoping all meeting minutes will be posted on our town websites (https://www.wenhamma.gov and https://www.hamiltonma.gov) soon.
Wenham Article 17 - to authorize a Prop 2 1/2 Debt Exclusion for Capital Improvements- was revised to now allocate the $200,000 in funds from Free Cash for the Library HVAC and Fire Station roof capital improvement projects, rather than borrowing that money. This was made possible because the estimated $1 million in the Free Cash account was found to actually be over $1.7 million. The town has promised to use the additional Free Cash surplus to defray the cost of the school athletic field project.
Wenham Article 18 - the proposed $15 million loan (another Prop 2 1/2 Debt Exclusion) for new school athletic fields was approved. (It also was approved in the Hamilton town meeting.) This issue went to a ballot question and has since been approved by the Wenham and Hamilton voters during the town elections on April 6th.
Our opinion on this: we are not against having great playing fields for our kids, but we agreed with the consultants and Hamilton FINCOM recommendation that this project should be done in a phased approach instead of all at once.
Voters who voted yes on this ballot question, voted to add an estimated $47 per $100,000 of assessed value for Wenham properties for the next ten years. This amounts to about $330/year for the median priced properties in Wenham. Hamilton properties are expecting a similar increase (over $300/year) as well.
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HAVE YOU LOOKED AT YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILLS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023?
If you have sticker shock, you’re not alone! Did you know that the Town of Wenham has the highest tax rate in Essex county this year? (The average rate for Essex county is $12.12 per $1000. Wenham's rate is $17.35 and Hamilton is not far behind at $16.34). The town assessors have completed a reassessment of our properties based on 2021 home sales in the area. In many cases, the assessments do not jive with the prices found online at Zillow, Redfin, and other real estate sites.
The mid-priced ($500K - $750K) properties (mostly ranch and cape style homes) were hit the hardest by the reassessments. These homes disproportionately increased in assessed value at a much higher percentage rate than most of the higher priced homes. So, if you own one of these style homes, you may have seen your taxes go up by over 25%, while some of your neighbors in $1 million+ homes saw little or no tax increase. We feel that many of the high-priced homes have been under-assessed which puts a larger tax burden on the mid-priced home owners, which is unfair. Nobody should ever have to have a 25-30% jump in their tax bills in one year.
THEY ARE MAKING IT UNAFFORDABLE FOR MANY WENHAM/HAMILTON HOMEOWNERS TO LIVE HERE!
This unprecedented increase in taxes could make it unaffordable for many of the town’s long-time residents to continue living here. Some of us are retired and depend on Social Security checks to pay the property taxes. These continual tax increases could eventually force some of us out of our homes. CCOW will be looking at some different ways to help retired seniors reduce their immediate tax burden. One proposal would allow qualified applicants to defer any property tax increases until such time as their house is sold. We are looking at other options as well and will work on submitting proposals to the towns for this type of relief.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Let’s attend the annual town meetings and elections and voice our concerns. Our town leadership needs more oversight from the people who live here. We need to be heard regarding how our tax dollars are spent.
Proposition 2 1/2 was put in place for a good reason. We cannot keep voting for town budget items that are requesting Prop 2 1/2 overrides and large debt exclusions. Town spending has gotten out of control over the years. For example, in 2005, my house sold for $457K and property taxes at that time were about $3800/year. Since then, my property value has increased by about 60% but my real estate taxes have increased over 300% (that is on average a 16.7% increase every year for the past 18 years - insane). Taxes have increased at a rate 5 times greater than the property value. This is simply unacceptable and unsustainable. I bet not many of us have seen our salaries go up by 300% in that same time period.
Sure, voting against certain budget item requests will cause some interim pain for our town, but it will force the town leaders to think outside the box to get the solutions that are needed. We simply can't continue our champagne taste on a beer budget (adding a little humor with that link).
If you are a Concerned Citizen of Wenham/Hamilton and would like to connect with other like-minded neighbors, please email CCOW2023@proton.me and share your ideas, expertise, and resources to help the cause. If you would like to be added to our email list for future announcements or planned events, please use the Contact Us section of this site. Together we will make a difference.
Thank you!
Copyright © 2023 CCOW - Concerned Citizens of Wenham/Hamilton - All Rights Reserved.
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