Property Tax Rate Data

Tax Rate Synopsis and Description

• The tax rate is made up of three principal components: County, Town & School Tax Rates. Starting in 1999, the School tax rate component of the tax rate was split, as per State legislative actions, into a state education tax rate, and a local education tax rate. This was done as a result of legislative actions in response to the State Supreme Court's Claremont ruling that addressed equity in education funding.
• The County component of the rate is determined by dividing the Hillsborough County budget between all of the 31 towns in the county on a proportional basis. The proportion is determined by analyzing what each town's total valuation base is in relation to the entire county's valuation total. Hudson's share of the county tax burden, for 2005, was approx. 6.58% of the whole. When the county warrant is presented to the town for its tax raising function this correlates to a county rate of $1.15 for the 2005 property tax year. This rate is computed annually in October of each year. This rate pays for the following services and more: County Attorney, Registry of Deeds, Sheriffs Department, County Cooperative Extension, Conservation District, County Forester, Department of Corrections, Human Services, County Nursing Home as well as other functions.
• The Town component of the rate is determined by the town voters at the annual meeting and ballot vote held in February and March of each year. The appropriations, minus any monies received from non-property tax revenue (i.e., motor vehicle registrations) is then divided by our tax base to arrive at a town tax rate for that year. This rate pays for most of the services that the residents see each year including: Board of Selectmen, Town Administrator & Staff, Police Department, Animal Control, Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Highway Department, Library, Recreation Department, Town Planning, Town Zoning, Town Engineering, Building Inspector, Health Code Officer, Town Clerk, Tax Collector, Town Treasurer, Conservation Commission, Assessing Department, as well as other related staff, boards and commissions.
• The School portion of the rate now consists of two components, the state education tax rate and the local education tax rate. The Legislature & the Governor arrived at the split in the school rate in 1999 to account for that amount per pupil that the Legislature & Governor have attempted to define as the cost of an adequate education. The town has a local component to the school rate as the voters had decided on an appropriation amount at the 1999 annual meeting and ballot vote that exceeds the amount determined to be an adequate education. This rate principally pays for all public education services in the Town of Hudson, (i.e. all elementary, middle school, and high school services).