Residential Tax Exemption Discussion Postponed

BREWSTER – On Monday members of the select board voted unanimously to keep a single tax rate across all four classifications, not adopting the open space discount, residential exemption or small commercial exemption.

The concept of a residential tax exemption, however, will be a topic of future discussions.

For a median single family home, which is valued at $787,150 — a 4.5 percent increase from the 2025 fiscal year — that will result in a 2.8 percent or $145.62 increase on the annual tax bill. The final price tag will be around $5,329. 

Based on the assessed value and estimated tax levy, the estimated tax rate would come out to be $6.77 per thousand dollars’ valuation, a 1.6 percent decrease from the previous year.

Deputy Assessor James Gallagher presented his findings to the board, including the recommendations not to adopt the four options available to offset taxes. 

The town used the maximum allowable levy increase of 2.5 percent for the fiscal 2026. Additionally, a strong real estate market and new construction resulted in property values increasing 4.6 percent. The figures are based on 2024 calendar year sales data. 

Assessed values for all four tax classifications (residential, commercial, industrial and personal property) saw minimal increases or decreases, except for the industrial classification. The new solar project off Freeman’s Way, near the VFW, increased the value of all industrial property by around 22 percent. 

The board of assessors looked at four tax levy shifting options when presenting the 2026 fiscal year tax rate. 

The first option presented a split tax rate that shifts the tax burden between classes. The board recommended keeping the residential factor of one, which resulted in no shift and an equal tax rate across the board. 

A graph illustrating the different increases and decreases showed that the shift would have a bigger impact on commercial property owners. For residential owners to save even $100, commercial properties would have to cover an additional $2,500 on their tax bills. 

Commercial property makes up a little over 2.6 percent of overall property values while residential property makes up about 95 percent. 

The residential tax exemption has been adopted by five communities on Cape Cod: Barnstable, Mashpee, Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet. Chatham has also adopted it for fiscal 2027, and Orleans is also discussing its adoption.

Gallagher said the residential exemption makes the most sense for communities with bigger percentage gaps between resident and non-resident owners or with bigger gaps in property values than in Brewster. Currently 52 percent of residential properties are owned by year-round residents, with 48 percent owned by non-residents.

Gallagher presented a graph illustrating the differences between not having the exemption versus a 25 percent exemption. The break-even point settled at around $1.8 million, meaning residents whose property has an assessed value above that figure would pay more in taxes. 

Gallagher argued that because property values in Brewster are not as stratified as in other towns, the break-even point is relatively low. The board of assessors recommended against adopting the exemption. 

Amanda Bebrin, vice chair of the select board, pushed the group to revisit the topic with more information. Although she didn’t want to hold up the decision on Monday night, she asked Gallagher to attend a future meeting to talk through some of the factors in more detail.

“At some point I would like this board to have a fuller discussion about what a residential tax exemption could look like in Brewster and what some of those numbers are,” she said. “As a community, I think one of our values is keeping people who are in Brewster continued to be housed in Brewster, and this is one lever that we can pull that would lower not everyone’s, but some people’s tax bills.”

Select board member Ned Chatelain inquired about the good landlord exemption for property owners who are renting their homes out year-round. He said he would like to learn more about the option.

Gallagher ended the presentation by committing to more dialogue on all the options, offering to break out pieces of information for more in-depth discussions.