At the same meeting, they also approved increasing the Residential tax exemption to 35% –  the top rate allowed by the law enabling the RTE.

You can read more on the Assessor’s report to the SB at this link.  It is an informative report.

Read the full Assessor’s Report, including more on taxation options here.

This increase on the RTE was strongly opposed by TPRTA which recommend reducing it by 5% a year until it disappears.  We reiterated that the largest-ever survey of part-timers – larger than the voter turnout at Town Meetings 2024  –  strongly opposes this tax shift/tax burden onto part-timers and asks for a fairer, less discriminatory distribution of the tax burden among all taxpayers in Truro. We urged the SB to consider the hardship this imposes on part-timers as well, and what it would mean to lose the middle class of part-timers due to untenable tax burdens.   We also urged the SB to once again consider alternative tax relief options that would share the tax burden AND help those who really need it –  through means-tested RTEs.   These have been successfully adopted in other MA towns.

We will make this information available to the SB and Town leadership for consideration.

MA Affordable Homes Act allow RTE Increase to 50% in Seasonal Communities

This far reaching act allows towns designated as “seasonal communities” to raise the RTE to 50%, following the advocacy of (State) Sen. Julian Cyr.  Most of the Cape and much of the Berkshires are designated as “seasonal communities.”  This could become effective in FY 26.  We have a related post on this legislation to learn more about it dated August 9, 2024