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“Everyone who lives in Brookline is rich enough to pay more” Not so fast… The Select Board appointed the Expenditures and Revenues Study Committee (the override study committee or ERSC) to make recommendations, understand the context, and detail analyses to the Select Board regarding the proposed override. Let’s take a few moments to consider who is being asked to shoulder this $23.25 million override. FACT: The increase in property taxes in the first year is 8.04% and the three-year impact is a whopping 18.27% increase in property taxes. This added to the 93% increase since 2015 in property taxes and the ongoing payments on our $600 million debt, which the Town voted to support in the building of Driscoll, the High School, Pierce, and the purchase of Newbury College, will result in taxes increasing 130% from 2015 to 2029. So, doesn’t everything go up? Not so fast… Keeping up with inflation is not easy even for people who have solid, well-paying jobs, but if we think about those on fixed incomes, like our seniors, it gets even tougher. Some analysis from the ERSC might surprise you. FACT: Property taxes on all classes of residential properties in Brookline far outstripped the rate of inflation in a range of 143% -- 5% times the rate of inflation.
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