At the beginning of 2024, Marblehead residents saw a large spike in their property taxes due to increases in their property assessments, residents now have a chance to file for an abatement till Feb. 1.
According to Mass.gov, an abatement is “a reduction in the amount of committed tax, a taxpayer remedy for overassessment or to claim exemptions.” A few reasons to apply for tax abatements include overvaluation, disproportionate assessment, misclassification of real property, or statutory exemption.
In this case, Marbleheaders would be applying for the reason of overvaluation and disproportionate assessment. Residents at the beginning of the year even saw as much as a 40% increase in their assessments.
In late April of 2024, over 80% of the 344 abatement applications were approved with a total of $541,000 in reduced property taxes. The high number of applications came as a result of errors in 2023, the 2024 fiscal year.
Jonathan Lederman, a Board of Assessors Member believes those overvaluation errors from 2023 have been resolved. While not every property was evaluated individually, the town worked with Patriot Properties to hold a small revaluation to prepare for the town-wide revaluation that will be taking place soon.
The new assistant assessor and the staff at the Assessor’s Office at Abbot Hall have been assisting taxpayers in understanding the updated valuations and filing for abatements if they wish to do so.
Lederman and the Board of Assessors want to inform residents of the importance of reviewing their property tax assessments thoroughly and filing for any abatements if their valuations seem to be false.
The abatement applications can be acquired from the Assessors Office at the Mary Alley Municipal It can also be downloaded from the Assessors’ page on the town website where more information can be found as well at marblehead.org/assessors-office or by calling 781-631-0236.