Avalon’s taxes pay for 1/3 of the school costs and nothing of the municipal costs that their 387 apartments create for Lexington
Like many Lexingtonians, I am concerned that future MBTA developments will not pay their fair share of the additional expenses they will create for our schools and municipal services. Avalon at Campus Dr, with 387 apartments, is a good example of what such future MBTA developments will be, so I looked into what Avalon pays in real estate taxes to the Town.
Avalon’s property is assessed at $110,141,000; annual real estate taxes are assessment times the residential tax rate, now $12.25 per $1,000 of assessment, or $110,141 x 12.25, yielding annual taxes Avalon pays the Town of $1,349,227.
I called the Town’s Tax Collector’s office to be sure my math is correct. They sent to Avalon its preliminary tax bill of $712,204.51 for half the year — the full annual tax amount is known only after the Select Board sets the new tax rate, usually each December. That preliminary tax bill is close to half the $1,349,227 annual FY24 taxes paid, which makes sense. Call it $1.4 million in round numbers.
On average over the past 10 years, there were 212 kids each year living in Avalon’s 387 apartments. So $1.4 million represents $6,603 per kid, or about ONE THIRD only of what it costs Lexington’s Schools to educate each student (some $17,000 per year last time I checked) — not including the capital costs to provide space for those 212 kids, or some 10 classrooms — and the $1.4 million pays for NONE of the non-school municipal services (police, fire, etc) Lexington also provides to Avalon.
My conclusion: unless our Select Board calls a Special Town Meeting as soon as possible to revert the 227 acres of MBTA zoning to 50 acres as the State required us to do, we will not be able to balance our Town budgets without massive tax increases — which voters may reject by opposing debt exclusions and operating overrides.