Finance committee recommends filing mayor’s FY26 LA-4 property valuation certification

The Gardner City Council Finance Committee voted Oct. 15 to recommend that the full council place on file the mayor’s communication certifying the city’s FY26 LA‑4 property valuations, a procedural item the mayor said leads into the tax classification process.

The LA‑4 is the Department of Revenue form that shows trends in property valuations used to calculate city tax rates. The mayor told the committee the LA‑4 and the earlier LA‑3 (qualified sales) together inform whether Gardner will adopt a single tax rate or a split rate for the coming year. The mayor said an initial estimate for the tax rate was “going to $14.42,” based on the certified valuations.

The mayor told the committee the valuations reflect market comparables from two years earlier: “these valuations are set on how the real estate market was operating 2 years prior,” he said, noting the figures reflect activity in calendar 2023 and will be reflected in later fiscal periods as markets update.

Councilors moved and seconded a motion to recommend placing the communication on file; the committee approved the motion by voice vote and the motion carried. The item will be forwarded to the full council for formal action at a future meeting.

The committee’s discussion was procedural and focused on document certification and timing; no changes to valuations or the tax classification were made at the meeting.