Residents may have noticed that if you use the various override calculators to calculate the tax impact of the upcoming override vote, you get different answers. To help explain why that is, we ran the home value of a $1 million property through each calculator and spoke with the creators of the calculators to clarify deviations in the results.
To try to keep the comparisons “apples to apples,” we are focusing on what the calculators are saying are the increases attributable to the overrides and other sources, including annual 2.5% increases to the property tax levy limit allowed under Proposition 2 1/2 and — if the calculators draw upon it — the $281-per-year trash fee that the town would implement if Question 4, the trash override, fails.
Here’s what we found.
FOR MARBLEHEAD: Co-chair Matt Hooks
Tax Impact (without trash override)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $133; Year 2, $681; Year 3, $944
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $287; Year 2, $982; Year 3, $1,263
Q3/Tier 1: Year 1, $441; Year 2, $1,181; Year 3, $1,580
Tax Impact (with trash override)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $369; Year 2, $917; Year 3, $1,180
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $523; Year 2, $1,218; Year 3, $1,499
Q3/Tier 1: Year 1, $677; Year 2, $1,417; Year 3, $1,816
WHAT’S INCLUDED: The numbers show only the increase from the override — not your total tax bill or other tax adjustments. “Each year’s figure is a standalone amount. It includes the 2.5% on the override portion of the tax increase, but not on the existing levy today because that is not impacted by the override vote,” Hooks said. “We’re trying to communicate the impact of your vote.”
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED: The amount residents would pay without an override. This calculator only shows the impact of the override tiers.
WHY VOTERS SHOULD USE THIS CALCULATOR: “I’m not advocating for anyone to use one calculator or another,” Hooks said. “People just need to understand what each calculator is telling them. If they want to see the tax impact of the override questions, they are welcome to use For Marblehead’s tax calculator.”
BETTER WAY: Spokesman John DiPiano
Tax Impact (without trash override and without Proposition 2 1/2 levy growth)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $414; Year 2, $962; Year 3, $1,225
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $568; Year 2, $1,263; Year 3, $1,545
Q3/Tier 3: Year 1, $722; Year 2, $1,462; Year 3, $1,861
Tax Impact (with trash override and without Proposition 2 1/2 levy growth)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $376; Year 2, $923; Year 3, $1,186
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $530; Year 2, $1,225; Year 3, $1,506
Q3/Tier 3: Year 1, $684; Year 2, $1,424; Year 3, $1,822
WHAT’S INCLUDED: One main difference between Better Way’s calculator and For Marblehead’s is that Better Way does not let the user ignore the fact that, one way or the other, residents will be paying for trash collection differently than they have in the past. The user can either see the numbers with Question 4 passing or with the $281 trash fee if it does not.
DiPiano added, “You can turn on and off Proposition 2 1/2 escalators on both the override questions and the base tax rate, and you can see multi-year tax increases that will reflect a tax bill after full implementation.”
Better Way’s calculator is also now offering the sum total of five years’ worth of tax increases, which is two years longer than the other calculators.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED: “The only scenario that we didn’t have time to implement in our calculator is the additional cost of the new debt issue recently announced by the Select Board,” DiPiano said.
“The new debt issue adds another $150-$250 per million of home value. If all Proposition 2 1/2 overrides pass, taxpayers will see an approximately 33.4% tax increase in year three over what they are paying now.”
WHY VOTERS SHOULD USE THIS CALCULATOR: “Our calculator is very flexible and allows taxpayers to play out almost every possible scenario,” DiPiano said.
TOWN: Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer
Tax Impact (w/o trash)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $130; Year 2, $643.25; Year 3, $929.33
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $280; Year 2, $897; Year 3, $1,239.43
Q3/Tier 3: Year 1, $430; Year 2, $1,080.75; Year 3, $1,547.77
Tax Impact (w/trash)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $350; Year 2, $878.25; Year 3, $1,180.72
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $500; Year 2, $1,132.50; Year 3, $1,490.82
Q3/Tier 3: Year 1, $650; Year 2, $1,316.25; Year 3, $1,799.16
WHAT’S INCLUDED: “The calculator was updated based on public feedback to show the cumulative tax impact over the three-year implementation period,” Kezer said. “In addition to the first-year impact, it includes the effect of the annual 2.5% levy increase in years two and three, providing taxpayers with a more complete picture of the projected cost over time.”
Kezer added, “The calculator’s results are consistent with, and accurate to within a few cents of, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s override calculator, with any minor differences attributable to rounding.”
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED: The calculator does not combine the effect of the proposed trash override (Question 4) with the proposed generally override questions (Questions 1–3). This was done intentionally so voters can evaluate each ballot question independently and understand the financial impact associated with each specific proposal, according to Kezer.
WHY VOTERS SHOULD USE THIS CALCULATOR: “The calculator provides a transparent and straightforward estimate of the potential tax impact based on a property’s assessed value,” Kezer said. “It incorporates the cumulative effect of the override over the three-year Implementation period and is aligned with the methodology used by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Most importantly, it allows voters to evaluate each ballot question independently, reflecting the way the questions will appear on the ballot.”
Tax Impact (without trash override)
Q1/Tier 1: Year 1, $130; Year 2, $664; Year 3, $920
Q2/Tier 2: Year 1, $280; Year 2, $958; Year 3, $1,231
Q3/Tier 3: Year 1, $431; Year 2, $1,151; Year 3, $1,540
WHAT’S INCLUDED: Unlike the creators of the other calculators, Baber decided to emphasize answering a different question with his calculator. Instead of capturing the “override effect,” Marblehead Data’s calculator focuses on the question, “What will happen to my household expenses, year over year?” As a result, there is no option to opt out of including the 2.5% annual increases on the entire tax levy, though the “override effect” is isolated — albeit in smaller type — in each of the “ballot outcomes” outlined. Like Better Way’s calculator, Marblehead Data’s does not allow users to ignore the cost of tax collection. The $281 annual trash fee is added into the “full tax bill” calculation, even though those charges would be billed separately on a quarterly basis and technically not part of property tax bills.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED: Because the calculator includes the 2.5% increase on the entire levy in the property owner’s projected tax bill (the numbers in the largest font on its grid), the “override effect” numbers do not include that 2.5% escalator. The calculator also does not isolate the impact of the combination of Question 4 (the trash override) being passed along with either Question 1 or Question 2.
WHY VOTERS SHOULD USE THIS CALCULATOR: If voters care less about the override effect on its own and are more interested in seeing what might happen to their household expenses depending on how the June 9 vote goes, this may be the calculator to use. At the moment, two scenarios — Question 4 passing along with either Question 1 or Question 2 without Question 3 — are not specifically addressed, but the calculator still provides useful information that some may find more relatable.
FINAL ANALYSIS: While it may appear that the calculators are giving users different answers, the differences are attributable more to what their creators have chosen to emphasize rather than discrepancies in the underlying math. Voters just need to be aware of the nuances outlined above and take those into account when they evaluate the numbers the calculators are providing.
