The Select Board voted to set Marblehead’s tax rate at 8.6 per thousand, the lowest it has been in recent memory, but many property owners will still see an increase in their tax bills starting in January.
“That’s the lowest rate I can recall,” said Select Board member Jim Zisson at a Dec. 2 meeting. One reason for the decrease is debt incurred to build the high school more than 20 years ago has finally fallen off tax bills.
The board voted to set the same tax rate for residential and commercial properties, as it has for many years. Commercial properties total only about 4% of all taxable properties in town, according to Assistant Assessor Todd Laramie.
The total value of all property in Marblehead is assessed as $9.89 billion, according to Laramie, up from $9.33 in fiscal 2025.
“As most people know, the sales market — not only in Marblehead but all over the East Coast and New England — has been crazy,” Laramie said. “It seems to be mellowing out a little bit. So these fiscal ‘26 values are based on calendar ‘24 sales.”
The average residential property value increased by 6.07%, while the average commercial property value increased 4.29%, according to Laramie.
The average single family home jumped in value from $1.217,640 to $1.291,507 in FY 26.
That means the average tax bill will edge up from $11,019.64 in FY 25 to $11,094.04 in FY 26, an increase of about $74 or .7%.
The median single family value is increasing from $956,000 last fiscal year to $1,010,100 in FY 26.
New growth (construction or physical improvements to a property) continues to slow. Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said the number of building permits has dropped.
The town is limited in how much it can raise property taxes each year by Proposition 2 ½, which states that a community’s total property tax revenue (levy) can not go up by more than 2.5% each year, plus revenue from new development. If the town wants to increase property taxes by more than 2.5%, it requires an override vote at Town Meeting and townwide election.
