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1. When and how often has Hingham passed overrides?

Since Prop 2 ½ was passed in 1980, the Town of Hingham has considered eight overrides as shown in the table below.  The last override that passed was in 2009.  It supported funding for the opening of a fourth elementary school (East School) in FY10.

2. How does Hingham compare with other communities on overrides?

According to the MA Department of Revenue’s Municipal Databank, our 19 benchmark communities have both proposed overrides more often than Hingham and passed overrides more often than Hingham. 

 Since 1990, our 19 benchmark communities have proposed a total of 211 overrides, which comes to an average of 11.1 proposed overrides per community compared to Hingham’s 8 proposed overrides during that period. 

 Hingham’s benchmark communities have also levied taxes through overrides more often.  Since 1990, our 19 benchmark communities have passed a total of 120 overrides, which comes to an average of 6.3 “wins” per community compared to Hingham’s 4 “wins” during the same period. 

 Please see the table below for a breakdown by community.

3. How does Hingham compare with other communities on property tax rates?

According to the MA Department of Revenue’s Municipal Databank, Hingham’s FY23 residential property tax rate is lower than most of our benchmark communities.  As the chart below shows, Hingham’s FY23 residential tax rate of $10.00 is tied for second lowest among the 20 communities.

4. How does Hingham compare with other communities on property tax bills?

According to the MA Department of Revenue’s Municipal Databank, Hingham’s average single family property tax bill is $11,177 for FY23.  As the chart below shows, Hingham ranks just below the midpoint among our benchmark communities in terms of average single family property tax bills.

If we roll these numbers forward to FY24, taking the estimated increase from the $7.89M override and the first year of debt service for the Foster School and Public Safety Facility projects into account, Hingham would remain near the midpoint among our benchmark communities in terms of FY24 average single family property tax bills.