SAUGUS Your Local News, Sports & More Online! Scan & Subscribe! OCAT D Vol. 27, No.49 CAT T A TOWN HALL VISIT: Santa Claus cheered on the crowd at last year’s Annual Tree Lighting and Festivities. Santa is scheduled to arrive at Saugus Center at about 7 o’clock tonight to preside over this year’s event and plans to spend an hour at Town Hall to pose for photos with Saugus kids after turning on the lights. Please see inside for more photos and the story. (Saugus Advocate fi le photo by Mark E. Vogler) TE E -FREE- www.advocatenews.net Published Every Friday 781-233-4446 Friday, December 5, 2025 SAUGUS CELEBRATES TONIGHT New tax rates set On average, homeowners will pay $279 more; businesses, $572 less, under plan approved by selectmen for Fy2026 By Mark E. Vogler he owner of an average single-family home in Saugus, valued at $683,849, will pay $7,126 in taxes next year – $279 more than this year. Meanwhile, the tax bill for an average commercial property, valued at $2,201,281, will be $46,843 – a decrease of $572 over this year. Those scenarios will take eff ect as a result of the new tax rates for the 2026 fiscal year approved unanimously on Nov. 25 by the Board of Selectmen, pending approval by the state Department of Revenue (DOR). A tax rate analysis presented by the Saugus Board of Assessors showed a 4.08 percent increase in the average homeowner’s tax bill, while commercial and industrial property owners can expect an average decrease of 1.21 percent. “Nobody wants any bills to go up,” Selectman Jeff rey Cicolini said as he tried to lend some perspective to the average tax bill Saugus homeowners will be facing next year. “But $279 sounds a lot more palatable than some of the disasters we’re hearing – one thousand and thirteen hundred dollar overrides and things like that. Hopefully, we can fi nd a way to balance needs with cost controls so we can still make this an affordable community to raise families,” he said. Once again, selectmen followed their past practice of recent years by adopting a plan calculating the lowest possible residential factor – a plan that would tax commercial, industrial and personal (CIP) property at a maximum share of the tax levy for the 2026 fiscal year at 175 percent. Selectmen voted to set the tax rates for the 2026 Fiscal Year that began July 1 at $10.42 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for residential and $21.28 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for commercial. The current tax rates are $10.68 for residential and $21.96 for commercial. Deputy Assessor Iwona Zamiejska-Wilt and the Saugus Board of Assessors (Chair David Ricciardelli, Daniel KelTAX RATES | SEE PAGE 2 Over 47 Years of Excellence! 1978 - 2025 Mid-grade Regular 2.83 3.37 3.53 $3.59 Full Service ULS $3.259 Order online at angelosoil.com Kerosene Now Available! FLEET CARD Check Out Our LOW PRICES!
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