The week ahead: City Council will hold half-decade tax reassessment hearing

The city is required by state law to reassess the value of properties in Waltham and revisit municipal tax rates every five years.

Waltham officials have completed the property reassessment for 2025, and this week will hold a special City Council meeting to discuss the tax rate for 2026. The special meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. today, Monday, Nov. 24, in City Hall’s council chambers, an hour before the council meets for its regular session.

As a part of this process, the City Council will decide on Waltham’s residential factor, which determines how the city splits its tax burden between commercial and residential properties, as well as the size of Waltham’s residential tax exemption. 

The city posted on its website a letter from the Board of Assessors and other background documents, which detail a proposed residential factor and the tax rates that will result if Waltham continues to grant its maximum residential exemption. The documents estimate that taxes on the average home will increase by $339.37 next year under the proposed rate.

The meeting will also cover the distribution of Community Preservation Act funds between its accounts for open space, housing, historical preservation and administration, as well as an appropriation taken from the city’s levy to support its sewer system.

City Council 

The City Council will open five public hearings at its Monday night meeting. 

Two of the hearings pertain to street resurfacing permits requested by National Grid to put in new gas piping on Brown Avenue and to insert a gas connection at 52 Willow St.; two surround grants of location to the NStar Electric Company to construct energy lines underneath Tavern and Kingston roads; and one special permit for a proposed mixed-use building at 220 Moody St.

The council also plans to pass a resolution honoring the life of Waltham resident Samuel M. Shriberg, to whom the council previously dedicated a lectern on Waltham Common.

Additionally, it is scheduled to vote on multiple matters covered in committees last week, including the transfer of a special drive-thru ATM permit at 130 Lexington St., a grant to the Waltham Police Department for traffic enforcement, an extension to a special permit for a proposed marijuana dispensary, and multiple licences around the city.

City Council will begin its regular session after the tax levy special meeting in the City Council Chambers at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The ZBA is a five-person board charged with reviewing new and existing buildings that may violate the city’s zoning code. 

The board has the power to grant project-specific variances to the code, overrule judgments made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permits, including the comprehensive residential permits outlined by the state’s Chapter 40B statute.

This week the board will discuss a residential housing development application through Chapter 40B at 245-265 Winter St. The board will meet this week to hear updates on the project at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25.

The project was first proposed in July. The ZBA last discussed the project last month, when the project’s development team presented a series of amendments to its plans to address concerns from project abutters.