Tax Rate Will Fall, Values Will Rise In North Adams

iBerkshires.com  reports the North Adams tax rate is going down but homeowners may still see a rise in their tax bills of about $128 on average because values are going up.

The City Council on Tuesday approved to continue a split tax rate and to set the commercial shift at 1.71. That will reduce the residential tax rate to $18.62 per $1,000 valuation, down 49 cents over last year, and the commercial/industrial rate at $40.67, down 94 cents from last year.

The value of the average home has gone up by nearly $10,000 — from $138,780 to $149,301. That means the average bill will rise from $2,652 to $2,780.

The total value of the city rose nearly $43 million, from $725,324,333 to $768,014,087 after being generally stagnant from fiscal 2017 to 2019. The bulk of the value is being seen in residential, which rose nearly $32 million, and personal property, which is up about $9 million. Industrial values remained flat and commercial values increased about $2 million.

Assessor Ross Vivori said the bump in personal property values is largely because of utilities, with Berkshire Gas, National Grid, New England Power and Massachusetts Electric seeing significant growth.