What's the real story with Andover's rising property taxes?

The data showed that in the last decade:

• Average Andover Property Tax Bills rose a hefty 46 percent, while
• Average Home Market Values rose only 2 percent

The chart above shows ten-year historical data for the average Andover Home Property Tax Bill (the rising red line) and the projected Average Property Tax Bills for 2014, 2015, and 2016 (the green portion of the rising line).

You can see how your Property Tax Bill continues to increase when you factor in the two variables that the Town controls — Assessed Home Value and Tax Rate.

The chart above shows the year-to-year percentage changes in the Average Assessed Home Value (in orange) and in the Tax Rate (in gray) over the last ten years. 

So while there is some correlation between Market Value of your home and the Assessed Value assigned by the Town, the data shows that the growth in Assessed Home Values (17 percent) far exceeds the growth in Market Value (2 percent) over the past ten years.  And in years when Assessed Values were lowered, the Town simply increased the Tax Rate to get the desired Property Tax Bill.
 

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