In January, Governor Maura Healey filed her Municipal Empowerment Act, a wide- ranging bill intended to help increase and strengthen municipal finances.

One of the bill provisions include a new Motor Vehicle Excise (MVE) surcharge. Ahead of enactment by the Legislature, this local option was voted on and approved at the May 4, 2024, Annual Town Meeting.  If this bill should fail in the Legislature, then Article 16 will be a moot point.

Article 16

To see if the Town will vote to accept the provisions of G.L. c. 60A, §10 (a) allowing the Town to increase the assessed amount of the excise tax assessed pursuant to G.L.c.60A, § 1 by a rate of 5 percent, such increase to take effect on assessments in the next calendar year; such acceptance contingent upon enactment by the Legislature of the so-called Municipal Empowerment Act.

Current law sets the MVE tax at $25 per $1,000 of a declining percent of a vehicle’s value, with value defined as the manufacture’s list price in the year made.  The MVE tax is one of the largest local receipts for most municipalities.   Currently, the average MVE bill is $154. In communities where this local surcharge is adopted, the average bill would increase by $7.70 (5 percent of the total bill). 

The next step for this bill, in which the House must report, is Friday June 14, pending concurrence.