HOLYOKE — Holyoke residents may or may not have noticed an incorrect Community Preservation Act tax rate on their bills at the start of the new year.
The bills were still overcharging the public for the CPA tax they voted to cut in November 2024, according to the city. In November 2024, Holyoke voters decided to support a reduction that lowered the CPA surcharge from 1.5% to 1%.
On Jan. 2, it was discovered that the fiscal year 2026 tax bills still used a CPA assessment rate of 1.5%.
After discovering the mistake on Jan. 2, the Board of Assessors sent a letter to the City Council and Mayor Joshua Garcia about how they plan to rectify the mistake.
In a letter to the public, Board of Assessors member Grant Schlosstein stated that “The rate should have been set at 1.0% in accordance with the ballot initiative approved last November and reflected on the third quarter bill. The issue stemmed from a miscommunication with the vendor used by this office to generate tax bills once the final rate is voted on by the council.”
Once they discovered the mistake, Schlosstein said that the Board of Assessors office immediately began working with the city’s tax collector and treasurer to resolve the issue.
“We have since begun recalculating the affected bills to ensure the correct CPA assessment is applied,” he stated.
As of the date of this communication, Jan. 5, most of the corrective work has been completed, and Schlosstein stated the board expected the process to be finalized within the next day of the letter.
The corrected information will be reflected on the fourth-quarter tax bills when they are mailed in April.
In the interim, taxpayers may request an updated tax statement and, by the end of the week of Jan. 9, can download corrected bills through the UniPay system available on the city’s website: holyoke.org.
Any taxpayer who has already made a payment based on the incorrect calculation will see a credit reflected on their updated bill.
Schlosstein concluded, “We apologize for the confusion caused by this oversight. While understandably frustrating, we anticipate that this error will have minimal impact on the overall collection of taxes. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or require additional information.”
Holyoke adopted the CPA program in 2016 with the 1.5% surcharge.
In the past five years, the CPA has secured about $43.4 million through matched and leveraged state, federal and foundation grant funding.
Funds are sourced from a surcharge on property tax bills and an annual allocation from the statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund, distributed to communities that have adopted the CPA.
Over the years, the Holyoke CPA has funded a variety of popular projects throughout the city, including the new Miracle League Playground, the restoration of the stained-glass windows at City Hall, Lady Liberty and the Korean Conflict Memorial at Veterans Park.
