Council to set tax rates

The City Council will hold its annual tax classification hearing Thursday. Under state law, communities are required each year to determine whether to have separate tax rates for residential and commercial properties, and if so, how much of the residential tax rate to shift onto businesses. Based on those decisions, the city will set a tax rate or rates for this fiscal year, subject to approval by the state Department of Revenue. Salem set a split rate for last fiscal year, when residential property owners paid $15.05 per $1,000 valuation, and commercial properties paid $29.08 per $1,000. The owner of the average single-family home, valued at $296,800, paid $4,467 in annual taxes last year. Under the split rate, businesses paid 65 percent more than if there had been a single rate. Also at its meeting Thursday, the council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on a request by Planet Fitness, at 29 Traders Way, to extend its operation to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The council also will consider second and final passage of a proposal to amend the city’s traffic ordinance to allow a stop sign to be erected on Pratt Street at its intersection with Endicott Street. - John Laidler