Watertown residential property owners could have faced increases of around 18%, but special legislation approved recently on Beacon Hill will prevent that. See the announcement provided by the City of Watertown, below.
Gov. Maura Healey signed into law H.5569, the property tax classification bill that will protect Watertown residential taxpayers from an estimated 18% increase in future tax bills.
This comes after months of hard work by Sen. Will Brownsberger, and Reps. John Lawn and Steve Owens working with their colleagues on Beacon Hill, as well as the advocacy by the City Council President Mark Sideris and City Manager George Proakis at the State House to get this bill passed.
Since 2024, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has granted Watertown a reprieve from a complicated, decades-old tax code that limited Watertown from shifting the tax rate between commercial and residential properties. While many other Massachusetts communities, including Boston and Newton, use the full shift allowed under state law, a rare lever in the law would require Watertown to apply new tax growth from its successfully grown commercial tax base to residential homes. Sen. Brownsberger, working with Reps. Lawn and Owens, secured a three-year reprieve from this law in 2024. That temporary reprieve was ending in Fiscal Year 2027, leading the City and State delegation to again work together to protect residents over the long term.
“We have been in lock step with Reps. Lawn and Owens, and Sen. Brownsberger in bringing this to the House and Senate,” said President Sideris. “This was a complicated issue that affects thousands of households in our city. We needed to do everything we could to help our taxpayers, and I am thrilled with our success in doing so.”
President Sideris, City Manager Proakis, and Assessor Earl Smith joined the bill’s sponsors, Representatives John Lawn and Steve Owens to testify before the Joint Committee on Revenue at the Massachusetts State House in January of this year. Following testimony and questions from the Joint Committee, Rep. Owens and Rep. Lawn worked with their colleagues in the House of Representatives to explain the complex law and the unique position Watertown was in.
“Watertown has demonstrated that smart, strategic new growth can strengthen a community’s tax base and create amazing opportunities for residents and businesses alike. It was important to ensure that the Commonwealth’s tax laws kept pace and did not inadvertently place an unfair burden on residential taxpayers,” said Rep. Lawn. “I am proud to sponsor this bill on Beacon Hill, to protect the residential taxpayers in Watertown, and find a permanent solution for the City.”
Rep. Owens added, “As soon as we began working with the City of Watertown on this bill, we knew right away this was all about affordability. While the details are about ‘residential factors,’ and obscure tax levers from the 1980s, our concern has always been about the residential taxpayers in Watertown being able afford to remain in the community they love. It was important that I sponsor this bill and advocate for the community members who make Watertown the special place it is.”
The bill passed unanimously in the House on July 8, 2026, 150-0, sending the bill to the Senate, where Senator Brownsberger began advocating for the bill with his colleagues.
“I was proud to work with the City of Watertown and my colleagues in the House to bring this compelling and important legislation through the Senate,” said Sen. Brownsberger. “This legislation provides a thoughtful, permanent solution that truly works for everyone. Our laws need to reflect the communities they are serving while remaining within statewide limits, as this legislation now does. I am grateful to my colleagues in the Senate and House for their support and pleased that we were able to deliver this important outcome for the people of Watertown.”
With Gov. Maura Healey officially signing bill H.5569 into law on July 31, 2026, residential taxpayers will not experience the estimated $1,000 increases on the average residential tax bill in Watertown.
More information
This legislation is a permanent continuation of the Tax Split Home Rule Petition passed in 2024 by the General Court, allowing the City to give residential property taxpayers relief by adopting a shift up to 175% of the property tax burden from the residential class to the commercial/industrial/personal property class (CIP).
Due to the new growth experienced in Watertown between 2015 and 2022, a rare lever in the tax law was triggered, requiring Watertown residential taxpayers to pay the residential class’s lowest percentage share of the tax levy since the 1980s – which is 61%. This would have meant that residential property owners pay 61% of the tax levy and the CIP pay 39% of the tax levy. Since the 1980s, the Watertown Arsenal property became taxable land and, more recently, a successful mixed-use development project. Watertown has encouraged additional commercial and life science lab development in recent years. As Watertown grew more successful commercial development, this minimum residential factor required the City to put new tax growth onto residents, while reducing total taxes on retail, office, and lab uses. The new legislation, which is a permanent continuation of what was allowed since 2024, is for a 50%-50% split between the two classes (as long as the total tax levy imposed on a single class does not exceed the 175% shift that still serves as a cap for all communities in Massachusetts).
Watch the January 27, 2026 testimonies by the City Council President, City Manager, Rep. Owens, and Rep. Lawn to the Joint Committee on Revenue.