Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | January 26, 2026 | wbjournal.com BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Managing Editor I n a December meeting, for one of the final times of his 14-year stint as a Worcester city coun- cilor, District 3's George Russell was faced with an all-too-familiar debate: e yearly tussle over how to set the City's split tax rates for residential and commercial prop- erty owners. Russell com- pared the split tax rates to a see-saw. If you push down the residential property tax rate to pro- vide relief to homeowners, the commer- cial rate has to go up to compensate. A move to lower the tax burden on com- mercial properties similarly increases the pain for residential property owners. As the owner of a small, residen- tial-focused real estate firm, Russell is all too familiar with the tax-related pain felt by both groups. "Members of this council have always fought over this before I was here and will fight over it long aer I'm gone," he said. In the end, the vote went as it has many times in the last four decades: e council chose the tax rate with the low- est possible residential rate of the 269 options presented to them. Worcester's commercial tax rate is now $29.06 per $1,000 of assessed value, the highest in Central Massachusetts and higher than Boston's rate of $26.96. Looking to break the dichotomy of the yearly discussion, he suggested a unique-but-rarely-used carveout allowed under state law: a tax break for properties containing small businesses. e exemption allows for up to a 10% break for properties assessed at a value less than $1 million and exclusively housing businesses employing 10 or fewer workers. Of the 351 Massachu- setts communities, 14 have adopted the exemption, including Auburn and Berlin in Central Massachusetts. As high-profile small businesses have closed in Worcester over the past two years, Russell and small business advocates say the City of Worcester could adopt this exemption, although they warn the savings needs to increase for the carveout to substantially help struggling businesses. "We're at a tipping point, so I'm a huge fan of that tax exemp- tion," said Jimmy Kalogeropoulos, broker owner of Worcester-based RE/MAX Part- ners, who works with small busi- ness tenants and property owners. Small business savings Worcester city councilors have longest expressed support for small businesses; but council will set tax rates to more benefit residential property owners, and any tax break agreements typically benefit large businesses, Rus- Lynn Cheney operated Worcester grocery store Maker to Main in two locations from 2020 to 2024, including at this downtown location on Main Street. Tax breaks for small businesses? Worcester could adopt little-used state law to provide relief for small businesses against one of the higher property tax rates in the state Jimmy Kalogeropoulos, broker owner of RE/ MAX Partners George Russell, former Worcester city councilor PHOTO | MATT WRIGHT

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