What are my feelings on our commercial districts and commercial growth? Although these are two different issues they are very much related. Will commercial growth help Town government financially? The answer is yes. Is it necessarily a financial boom for the Town? The answer is probably not. Under proposition 2 1/2 revenue that a town can raise from its property tax levy is limited to the allowable levy from the previous year plus 2 1/2 percent plus new growth. Proposition 2 1/2 does not distinguish between residential and commercial. They are all rolled together when dealing with the increase in revenue from property taxes. Therefore the mere fact that we have commercial property as opposed to residential property does not really matter from a revenue stand point with the exception of increased revenue from meals tax and personal property taxes on businesses.
New growth allows the Town to collect more revenue from property taxes. It does not really matter much from a revenue perspective if that new growth is residential or commercial. The increase in revenue is strictly based on the value of the new growth. On the expenditure side commercial growth is theoretically less costly since it will generally not add costs to education, general town government and public works that would be associated with residential development. On the other hand commercial growth could add more cost to public safety when compared to residential growth.
The mix of commercial and residential property does help town residents with their real estate taxes. The State allows municipalities to set different tax rates for residential and commercial. In Milton the residential rate is approximately $14 and the commercial rate is approximately $21. This allows for a disproportionate shifting of the real estate tax burden from residential to commercial. There are however legal limits on how much that shift can be. In Milton with so many people on fixed incomes and with the current state of the economy the ability to shift some of the property tax is no small matter.
Does that mean that we need more commercial growth in order to shift the property tax burden? Not necessarily. The allocation of property taxes between residential and commercial is based on relative values of the two types of property. If we do thing or encourage things that increase commercial property values an increase in shifting could occur without new growth as most people think of it.
I do favor any initiatives that would enhance our two business districts, East Milton and Lower Mills, and encourage development and revitalization of those districts. Parking and traffic flow are clearly a problem more so in East Milton. I am hopeful that something positive will come of the East Milton traffic and parking study that we can build on. If the traffic flow can be reconfigured to allow for better access and unimpeded flow through the business district and if convenient parking spaces could be developed the revitalization of East Milton would be a real possibility.
I think that we have to face the reality that Milton does not have the geography to support any large scale commercial development. We do not have a long stretch of major highway that flows through the Town as does Dedham or Norwood that would attract major commercial tenants. Furthermore Milton has always been a town that offers a quite resident setting with open space and in some parts of Town almost a rural setting. People are attracted to this Town in part because of that enviroment. I think that we should be very careful with any proposal that would expand commercial growth outside of the current business districts. In general I believe that the Town has been careful to consider the ramifications of commercial development outside of the business districts. There have obviously been two proposals, the Randolph Ave shopping plaza and the Temple property that was met with considerable opposition from the residents. Yet my personal opinion is that small and tasteful commercial establishments within residential districts can be both good for the town and the neighborhood in which they are located. In this crazy out of control times that we live in we don't always get to know our neighbors or have a sense of neighborhood. We are running around to get to work or to shuttle our kids from this event to that event. A neighborhood store could be a focal point that would allow people from the neighborhood to meet and interact.
So much for my fifty cents on sociology. In the end it is not should not be my decision on what is best for your neighborhood. It should be your decision. It is for that reason that I support the development of a comprehensive master plan. Such a plan would be developed by the Planning Board and would be a blue print for all future development from commercial to residential to affordable as well as traffic flows and parking issues. It would be a plan that would be carefully thought out and developed with considerable feed back from all of the residents of the Town. I believe that development without such a plan tends to be haphazard and reactionary rater than visionary and in the end may not prove to be in the best interest of the Town as a whole.
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