SOUTH HADLEY — The owner of an average single-family home valued at $391,100 will pay an estimated $105 more in property taxes next fiscal year.

Compared to the average tax bill of $5,361 in fiscal 2024, the average single-family home will pay $5,467 in taxes for fiscal year 2025. The increase will occur despite the town dropping its tax rate by almost 3% — to $13.98 per $1,000 of assessed value — because the value of property continues to rise, Associate Assessor Melissa Couture-Rimbold explained at a Dec. 3 tax classification hearing.

“The (property) values for the town have gone up once again,” Couture-Rimbold said. “I will say I’m kinda happy because our motto since this last year’s classification was ‘look at about 10%,’ and overall the town went up 6.1%.”

Property owners also must pay taxes to the town’s two fire districts. For the first time in two years, owners of a single-family home in Fire District 1 will see their property taxes decrease by $70.86 in fiscal 2025, compared to a $60.97 increase in property taxes for the average homeowner in Fire District 2.

At the tax classification hearing, the Select Board and the Prudential committees for each district approved a single tax rate for all property classes in the town and in the districts.

“When we did the budget, we had a larger amount of free cash than normal, and our ambulance provided a decent amount of money,” said Kurt Schenker, chair of the Fire District 1 Prudential Committee. “We were able to lower the tax rate based on those two factors.”

In Fire District No. 1, which covers a large section of town that includes the Falls area, an average single-family home will pay $762.65 in taxes, with a tax rate decrease from $2.24 to $1.95 per $1,000 valuation for the fire, water and ambulance services in the district.

Fire District No. 2 residents will see a tax bill increase to $872.15, but the tax rate for those single-family properties is dropping from $2.18 to $2.23 per $1,000 valuation for the district services.

Select Board Member Renee Sweeney and Chair Andrea Miles requested a more thorough look at tax breaks for owner-occupied residential properties, which make up 97% of single-family homes in town. The residential exemption applies to any homeowner living on their property, and allows tax cuts up to 35%.

“I don’t think the 35% maximum is something we should ever consider,” Sweeney said, “But I would like to see in the future a table of what would happen at 10 or 15% because I do think it would be a good way to provide relief to the folks who have the homes of the lowest value.”

Couture-Rimbold said she’s willing to provide the breakdown for next fiscal year, but she said such a tax exemption would be made on the “backs of your other taxpayers.” Under this exemption, Couture-Rimbold explained that a $200,000 owner-occupied property would see an estimated $1,000 decrease in property taxes, but an estimated $1,200 increase in taxes if not owner-occupied.

“We (assessors) are the guardians of fairness,” Couture-Rimbold said. “Every dollar matters because we understand the big picture and that dollar comes from somebody else. I feel that there are other pockets that hit the target audiences you want to hit.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.