Dalton and Fire District Set Tax Rates for FY25

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board voted to maintain a single tax rate, as it has done historically, during its meeting on Monday night. 
 
This means all types of properties within the town, whether residential, commercial, or industrial, will be taxed at the same rate.
 
The town's tax rate for fiscal year 2025 is projected to be $16.47 per $1,000 property value, which is a decrease of 54 cents from last year's rate of $17.01. 
 
The average tax bill for a single-family residence in Dalton would be about $5,561.06 for an average value of $337,648.
 
Residential properties continue to represent most of the total value in town, at approximately 86 percent, with commercial, industrial, and personal property only making up about 14 percent, Assessor's Clerk Lee Nunez said.  
 
The town's excess levy capacity for FY25 is approximately $777,158, which is down from FY24's figure of $864,386.07. The town takes this figure into consideration when developing the budget. 
 
The total assessed value of taxable properties in town for FY25 is $959,176,725, an increase of $63,853,860, or 7.13 percent over last year. 
 
The Dalton Fire District's prudential committee also voted to maintain a single-payer tax rate, as it has done for many years, at its meeting on Tuesday. 
 
The Fire District and town are two separate governing and taxing bodies. The Fire and Water departments are the Fire District's responsibility. The Board of Water Commissioners and the Prudential Committee govern the district.
 
The district's tax rate is set according to its yearly budget. During the Fire District's annual meeting, voters approved budget articles amounting to approximately $3,524,680 for fiscal year 2025. 
 
A number of the budget hikes were caused by increases outside the district's control, specifically insurance, Water Commission Chair James Driscoll said during the annual meeting
 
The district's tax rate for fiscal 2025 is projected to be $1.66 per $1,000 property value. 
 
The average tax bill for a single-family residence in Dalton would be about $559.42 for an average value of $337,648.

Tags: fire district,   fiscal 2025,   property taxes,   tax classification,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield's Tavern at The A Will Seek New Operators

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Tavern at The A is again looking for a new operator with a hopeful opening in the spring. First, it must be able to transfer the liquor license.

On the agenda for last week's Licensing Board meeting was a conversation with Steve Cobb, president of the General Electric Athletic Golf Course board of directors. The Crane Avenue restaurant is on the golf course's property. 

Attorney Bill Martin said there is a "really bad relationship" with the holder of The A's liquor license — with owners struggling to even get in contact. A few years ago, the former tenants went out of business and now, he said the GEAA is facing a worse situation with the latest tenants.

"Another tenant operator has managed to do even worse, has left us in a situation where we not only have, I think, unpaid [Department of Unemployment Assistance] and [Department of Revenue] obligations but we can't even get enough information out of her at this point to determine what those obligations are," Martin reported.

"It looks like there has been a lot of months that were not filed. We spent the last three or four weeks basically chasing as hard as we can simply to get the renewal application filed."

According to The A's Facebook, the restaurant appears to have been closed since late summer though craft-making events at the Roasted Garlic, a restaurant on West Housatonic Street, are being advertised on the page.

Martin said there are also unpaid vendors, amounting to "tens of thousands of dollars worth of obligations that we're probably going to have to clear in connection with an application" for a liquor license transfer.

"We desperately want to be back in business certainly by the early spring," he said.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories