County officials consider giving taxpayer rebates

Ever since the waterfront real estate boom started in the 1970s, Middlesex County appears — on paper —  to be one of the wealthier counties in the state. This is even though the county’s per capita income has remained relatively low and the majority of the citizens must travel outside of the county for better paying jobs.

The high value of real estate has resulted in the county getting turned down on grants and other funding, due to the low county tax rate. Each time there is a reassessment of land values, the taxable land values go up so high in Middlesex that supervisors lower the tax rate so citizens are not getting an enormous real estate tax hike.

“They (state and federal officials) say that because we have such a low tax rate we do not qualify for grant funds because we can raise our tax rate to get the money,” said Hartfield Supervisor Bill Harris.

At the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) regular meeting. Middlesex County Commissioner of Revenue Mae Diggs reported that there are several counties that use a rebate policy rather than lowering the tax rate. This way the tax rate is not lowered and the citizens of the county do not receive a large tax hike because of the increase, or a portion of the increase, is rebated back to the taxpayer.

The board agreed to look into the matter and further see how it is working in the other counties before making a decision on it.