A Special Election will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15, to fill a vacancy on the Select Board.
Each week until the election, Abington News is asking the two residents running a question to help voters better understand them as candidates.
This week’s question was another two-parter:
The tax burden is increasingly being shifted into homeowners, as house values rise much faster than commercial property values. As a result, commercial and industrial properties now make up less than 10% of the town’s tax base.
Do you think the town needs to build out its commercial and industrial tax base? If so, what ideas do you have to accomplish this?
Finally do you support a split tax rate, or feel residential and commercial properties should be taxed at the same rate?
MICHAEL LAVERY
Thank you for the question and again thanks to everyone for the feedback. Even the ideas that people have feedback about have started great conversations that have helped tweak proposals to make them even more impactful.
Building out more industrial and commercial space is an important way to increase the tax base and lighten the burden on residents. Industrial would be less realistic than commercial. If we do plan to expand industry in town though, it should be underutilized progressive industries that will have a long-lasting appeal. As I mentioned last week, one way to combat cost of living is homeowners getting control of renewable energy sources. If there was a place in town to produce equipment for green energy, just for example, it would both help increase the tax base but also save residents a lot of money in energy prices. As weather is becoming more extreme, green energy has saved a lot in expenses. The Acadia Center believes that on June 25, 2025 when temperatures reached over 100 degrees that the ISO-NE area saved between $8M-$16M due to green energy. And while that’s a large area, it was only just from one day. A scaled-down municipal green energy storage system like we see in Sterling MA has saved the town millions of dollars. They calculate that Sterling saves its ratepayers $400,000 per year in energy costs. Even if we don’t produce the equipment ourselves, we should be looking into programs like this that produce sustainable savings.
Abington isn’t necessarily a place that would make sense for large manufacturing in modern times. A lot of people have talked to me about the identity of Abington and the identity people envision wouldn’t match that. But industries like healthcare, financial services and information technology would be less invasive to our architecture and neighborhood design and would be future-pointing.
Commercial however would make more sense. When the recent Abington Housing Production Plan survey came out, one recurring comment was that there wasn’t an area in town that you could spend an afternoon at, walking between shops, getting food, recreation, ect. Picking an area in town near public transit could boost tax revenue by bringing in commercial dollars and would bring more traffic to local businesses. It can also add jobs, increase property value, attract businesses and land can be utilized for multi-use. This would increase multiple tax sources on top of license and permit fees.
With all that said, it is a tough balance. If a development isn’t successful it could hurt the town’s tax base. We see a town like Hanover with a lower population but higher household income make a place like Merchant’s Row thrive. Ideas like that should at least be discussed with the Town Planner and Planning Board to see the viability of it with our town demographics.
When it comes to tax rates, I was talking to a veteran off of Green st the other day that was asking about houses we’ve seen sold in the community. In the past year over 20 houses in town sold for between $900K-$2M, according to Zillow. He mentioned the idea of taxing property at an escalating rate. There are options like marginal rates that could impose higher rates over a certain threshold. There are also mansion taxes that impose taxes on high-price transactions. Either would greatly lighten the burden on most residents in town. The same HPP survey had over 80% of respondent’s households making under 150K or choosing not to answer. A huge portion of our residents could benefit from tax plans like those.
We’ve had a flat rate for a while now and we’re running into more and more problems with our budget. It’s obviously not the only reason we’ve seen our money accomplish less but having a split rate would be another way to take the burden off the residents.
None of these tax issues are easy solutions. Much like the override, residents should have a say on all of these. At the end of the day the role of an elected official is to work for the people. Just tonight (Thursday) Whitman-Hanson is having an emergency School Committee meeting over the firing of school staff. We should be doing everything in our power to not have massive layoffs in Abington. Not only do we need to protect those jobs, we need to protect the services they provide.
While volunteering at the Abington Food Bank on Tuesday, person after person was telling me how they felt neglected by the town. Not the Food Bank itself, but them as residents. Both the volunteers and the residents coming through had similar comments. It’s absolutely amazing we have a mutual aid network to help our neighbors. But what if instead we had protections in our system to not have to rely on the kindness of others? Do you pay less than 30% of your household income on cost of living? According to the Abington HPP survey, 75% of respondents said they pay over 30%. Their cost of living isn’t considered affordable and every day they are closer to needing assistance. It’s not only a local issue, both statewide & nationwide we are seeing the wealth gap growing. And the longer we wait to shrink the gap the harder it’ll be. We can not let the big opportunities for change in Abington get passed by.
For more information please go to facebook.com/laveryforabington
Or email me laveryforabington@gmail.com
NICOLE EMERY
Q1. The tax burden is increasingly being shifted into homeowners, as house values rise much faster than commercial property values. As a result, commercial and industrial properties now make up less than 10% of the town’s tax base. Do you think the town needs to build out its commercial and industrial tax base? If so, what ideas do you have to accomplish this?
Yes, I think one of the best ways to keep Abington affordable is to strengthen our commercial tax base. Even modest commercial growth can bring in meaningful recurring revenue for the town. Bringing in more business will help balance the budget and take some of the pressure off homeowners.
Union Point is likely our biggest growth opportunity. Abington owns 75 acres there and if we use that space wisely for commercial development, it could make a huge difference for our tax base. By maximizing our commercial development there, we could increase Abington’s overall commercial tax base while still maintaining the small town feel that people love about living here. There is the known water issue that has been a barrier to developing, but I think Union Point really holds the biggest key to our largest and most impactful growth.
We also have areas on Route 18 that are still underdeveloped and could be used more effectively. I’d like to see the town work more closely with both the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and the Old Colony Planning Council to try and get more aggressive with the efforts and advertising. Strengthening these partnerships could help us market Abington better, reach out to new businesses, and take advantage of regional programs that support local development. Some of these programs could provide funding or incentives to help Abington upgrade infrastructure, prepare commercial sites or recruit businesses.
Leveraging available programs means less burden on the town budget and as well as access to tools for commercial growth without just relying on local resources. One major resource to also utilize is the Community One Stop for Growth program. This single application connects towns to more than a dozen state funding programs for things like infrastructure upgrades, site readiness, and planning projects. Instead of applying for each grant separately, the town can submit one coordinated proposal. This helps save time and also makes it easier to align projects with Abington’s long term goals.
We should be partnering with the state to attract start ups or small companies that could qualify for economic development incentives that would be beneficial. I also think we can get a little more creative with how we manage our resources. For example, exploring opportunities with nearby towns to share things like water or infrastructure services could help us keep costs down while still supporting beneficial growth.
We need to continue to make Abington a place where people want to invest. Keeping taxes reasonable is part of that, but so is making our town look and feel inviting. A more beautiful, well-maintained community attracts new families and businesses alike. Projects to help accomplish this could be (at least partially) coordinated through volunteer efforts and committees.
So when looking to build out the commercial tax base in Abington, I believe that if we take a balanced approach that is thinking ahead, using resources wisely, and collaborating where it makes sense , we can help Abington grow in a way that keeps our community strong and affordable for years to come.
Q2. Do you support a split tax rate, or feel residential and commercial properties should be taxed at the same rate?
When it comes to deciding on whether to support or oppose a split tax rate for Abington, I would consider two important things: what percent of the tax base is commercial? And how much of an impact would a split rate make?
My short answer after considering these two things: I don’t believe a split tax rate would be practical at this time for Abington.
The town’s commercial tax base would need considerable growth before a split rate could provide a meaningful benefit and even then, there would be other factors to consider. We are only at about 7% commercial. After reviewing the FY 25 classification with Deputy Assessor Jolanta Briffett, adopting a split tax rate would bring a fairly insignificant benefit. About 68% of our commercial properties are classified as ‘small commercial’ and valued under $1,000,000. We would be increasing the tax rate on these small businesses and only minimally reducing the tax impact on residential. Even if considering a Small Commercial Exemption as a way to have a split rate while also providing relief to the smaller businesses, it likely really wouldn’t. Less than 15% of the total small commercial tax base would be eligible for an exemption and of that 15%, only a small fraction of those businesses are owned by Abington residents. And even then, a Small Commercial Exemption wouldn’t necessarily bring the benefit we would hope for. If not owner occupied, the tax benefit would go to the property owner and not the small business owner.
Depending on the ownership, the burden could possibly then be shifted to other small business owners. When looking into surrounding communities that do implement a split tax rate, most do not offer the Small Commercial Exemption with the Hanover citing only 14 communities statewide having adopted it.
Once Abington’s commercial tax base has grown, then I think a split rate would be something to run the numbers and consider. And at that time, we couldd take a close look at what kinds of businesses make up our commercial base, weigh the financial benefit, and decide whether the impact on residents and businesses would make it worthwhile.
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