Beverly Council Sets FY2021 Tax Factor, Approves $1.75 Million Road Safety Grant

BEVERLY — November 23, 2020 — Beverly City Council unanimously sets FY2021 tax classification factor and approves $1.75 million state road grant. The nine-member council, meeting remotely on November 23, voted to adopt a minimum residential factor of 0.88682 — corresponding to a commercial shift of 1.736 — keeping the residential tax increase to roughly three percent, with Chief Assessor Peter Caron explaining the shift was nudged upward because residential properties have outpaced commercial appreciation for seven consecutive years. Finance Director Brian Ailes and budget analyst Gerald Perry both backed the recommendation, while Councilor Estelle Rand pressed on whether a pending state supplemental appropriation of roughly $3.5 million could deliver tax relief; Ailes said declining to appropriate $1.1 million of that money would save the average taxpayer about five dollars a month but no decisions are possible until the mayor files a formal request. The council also unanimously accepted a $1.75 million MassWorks grant for reconstruction of the Sawyer and Tozer roads intersection, which Grants Director Catherine Barrett said succeeded on a second application after the adjacent Anchor Point 77-unit, 100 percent affordable housing development reached shovel-ready status.