The average single family homeowner will see a $241 increase in their property tax bills for fiscal 2011 now that the state has approved the town's new rate. However, the increase was kept to a minimum due to the drop in overall property values.

Selectmen approved a 1.42 tax classification shift this year, a shift that decides how the tax burden is split between the two main categories of property: residential and commercial-industrial-personal.

Under a 1.42 shift the residential property tax rate will increase from $13.19 per $1,000 of assessed value to $14.12, or 7.1 percent. However, the average single-family tax bill will only rise by 3.3 percent, from $7,239 to $7,480, due to the overall drop in residential property values.

Increases this year are due to the 2.5 percent the town is allowed to increase the budget each year.

Meanwhile, the commercial-industrial-personal property tax rate will increase from $21.33 per $1,000 of assessed value to $22.47, or a 5.3 percent increase.

Selectmen gave a little break to the commercial and industrial property owners by approving a 1.42 shift, instead of the 1.44 shift that was adopted last year. However, when taking into effect the overall change in property values, the 1.42 shift appeared to provide the most uniform increases.

Overall, property values in Andover all went down this past year by 3.23 percent. Residential property values decreased by 3.73 percent, commercial property values decreased by 2.38 percent, and industrial property values saw the largest decrease at 5.17 percent.

Residential property represents 79.4 percent of the total property value in town. Commercial property represents 8.4 percent of the property value in town and industrial represents 9 percent. Open space and personal property, such as telephone poles and other utility infrastructure, represent 3.2 percent of total value.

Total value of non-public property in town is $6.616 billion.