Find Your Property Assessment
Go to the Patriot Properties website and search by owner’s last name to see a property’s assessed value.
To view an interactive map, search the Geographic Information System (GIS) Property Map by owner’s last name, then open the Patriot Property Card to view the assessed value.
How are property values determined?
The Assessor determines the fair market value of every taxable property in Williamstown. Your share of the Town’s tax bill depends on that value — what the Town says your property is worth.
Property taxes are the Town’s largest source of revenue, making up 84% of the budget. That funds schools, employee salaries and benefits, roads, public safety, and the day-to-day services our community relies on. Each year, the Assessor updates the tables used to calculate building and land values. They are based on recent “arm’s length” sales —sales between a willing buyer and seller with nothing unusual affecting the price, like a private sale, a sale involving an educational, charitable, or religious organization, or a sale between family members.
One of the main tools an assessor uses is the assessment-to-sales ratio study. It compares recent home arm’s length sale prices to assessed values. This makes sure assessments are keeping pace with the market. State guidelines require assessments to fall between 90% and 110% of the median sale price for each property type.
Here’s an example. Say ranch-style homes in town have a median sale price of $100,000. But the median assessed value for ranch-style homes is only $80,000. State guidelines would require the Assessor to raise those assessments, so they land between $90,000 and $110,000. The same process applies to every style of home and property class.
Your assessment may lag behind current sale prices. That’s because the Assessor typically looks at sales from the prior year. Other factors can affect your assessment too — including building permits, which can change a property’s condition rating, and additions that increase finished living space.
How is the tax burden distributed?
Each year, the state’s Bureau of Local Assessment reviews the new assessed values. After that approval, the Select Board holds its annual Classification Hearing. This is a public meeting where board members decide how to distribute the tax burden across property classes. They have four options:
• An Open Space Discount
• A Residential Exemption
• A Small Commercial Exemption
• A single tax rate, or a split tax rate between residential and commercial/industrial property
No matter which option they choose, the total amount of taxes collected (the levy) stays the same. The options only change how that total levy is divided among property owners. Williamstown has long kept a single tax rate for all property classes. This spreads the levy evenly, without adding extra burden to commercial, industrial, or Chapter Land properties. A split tax rate would shift more of that burden onto those property classes, and less onto residential ones.
Have more questions? Contact the Assessor’s Office directly.