NORTHBOROUGH – With the appropriation to be requested for the Northborough Fire Station project finalized, the estimated average annual tax impact for a single-family home is now $321.
During the Select Board meeting on Sept. 9, the board voted to execute the warrant for the Oct. 7 Town Meeting, which includes a request for an appropriation of $41,364,992 for the fire station project.
The future fire station is proposed for 61-65 West Main St.
In February, the project was estimated to cost between $43 million to $49.9 million as part of the schematic design phase. As the design was further refined and underwent additional cost estimates, the total project cost was narrowed to $44,939,991, which includes previous Town Meeting appropriations of $3.5 million and $75,000.
As a result, the appropriation before Town Meeting in October is $41,364,992. According to Select Board Chair and Fire Station Building Committee member Mitch Cohen, the committee is expecting to receive about $1.9 million in rebates for energy conservation measures.
“The anticipation is that the rebates that we just talked about come back early enough that we would not have to do long-term borrowing on that roughly $1.9 million,” Cohen said.
Finance Director/Town Accountant Jason Little prepared a memo to the Select Board outlining the projected tax impact to residents based on a modeling of $39,464,992 in a total new debt authorization for 30 years.
For the average single-family home estimated at $655,691, Little estimated an average annual tax impact of $321. Over 30 years, this average single-family taxpayer is projected to have an annual tax increase of $441 in fiscal 2026, which would be reduced to $202 by fiscal 2055.
This impact is a decrease from the anticipated average annual tax increase of $344 that was presented to the Select Board in July.
Little further broke down the tax impact as it relates to other home values.
For example, for a single-family home estimated at $400,000, the tax increase for fiscal 2026 is projected to be $269 and $123 by fiscal 2055. On the other end of the spectrum, for a single-family home valued at $1.2 million, the tax impact for fiscal 2026 is projected to be $807 and $370 by fiscal 2055.
Select Board member Lisa Maselli asked Little if there were discussions about a 20-year bond instead of the proposed 30-year bond, voicing concerns about the amount that would be spent on interest amid other potential projects in town. Little’s model used a 4.25% interest rate per projections from the town’s financial advisor.
Little said there was some hope that there would be a differential in the interest rates when the town takes the bond to market and that a 20-year bond would be feasible within the numbers presented. After crunching the numbers, Little said there would have to be a 3.25% interest rate differential between a 20- and 30-year bond from the market.
“That’s very unlikely to happen,” Little said.
He said that staff will return before the Select Board before they take the bond to the market, “but it’s very likely that it’s going to be a 30-year bond.”
For more information on the project, visit https://www.town.northborough.ma.us/fire-rescue-emergency-management/pages/northborough-fire-station-project.
