Westport will stick with its single tax rate, among the state’s lowest, after the chairman of the board of assessors said this week that introducing a split rate for businesses, commercial and residential would harm what few businesses the town has.

“If we had the big commercial giants in here, that would be one thing,” assessors chairman Steven J. Medeiros told the select board.

“But pretty much all our businesses are small mom and pop garages and car lots. I’d say our biggest employer is probably Lee’s Market.”

Going into 2025, the new tax rate is $7.45 per $1,000 valuation, a drop of 28 cents from the previous $7.73 rate. It applies to all properties in town, including residential, business and commercial.

While the rate has fallen, property owners will not necessarily see a tax decrease — as property values rose, so has the tax levy, which grew by about 4 percent, or $1.5 million, this year. The new rate takes into account the larger tax base as well as new growth, which was up just under 8 percent this year.

Overall, the average single family home price in Westport rose from $596,000 to $641,000, and the median price rose from $494,000 to $528.7 percent, this year.

Why no split rate?

Medeiros said Monday that since Westport is primarily a residential town, introducing a split rate that would presumably be higher for businesses and commercial properties would not make much difference to homeowners. But it “would put a big burden” on businesses, he said.

More than 90 percent of Westport’s properties are residential, while just 5 percent are business or commercial.

“If we were to split the tax rate, the average residential home is only about $100 less” in taxes, Medeiros said. “But it would be an increase of about $800 for the commercial and businesses. It significantly increases the commercial and doesn’t really help the residents.”