A “significant” property tax abatement has been granted to the Belmont Country Club, following a legal battle between the private organization and Belmont earlier this year.
The result, according to court documents, is refunds owed to the Country Club on two of its parcels for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023, totaling roughly $337,000. State law also stipulates an 8% interest per year, from the time of payment or the due date of the tax, whichever is later.
According to Roy Epstein, chair of the Board of Assessors, the state’s Appellate Tax Board handed down the decision in February.
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“What the board has been discussing the last couple of executive sessions is how should we proceed in the wake of the decision, because the implication for tax revenue for the town is significant,” Epstein said at a recent Board of Assessors meeting.
When reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, a country club representative said the club does not comment on news stories.
“The Appellate Tax Board awarded the Country Club a considerable abatement,” Select Board Taylor Yates said in a statement. “The Town is considering the full range of options to do what’s right for our community.”
According to court documents, Belmont Country Club encompasses about 197 acres of land across Belmont, Arlington, and Lexington. The two parcels with land in Belmont are located at 171-181 Winter Street and 181 Winter Street, totaling 70.5 acres and 59.5 acres, respectively.
The 18-hole golf course also features an outdoor pool and fitness center, tennis courts, and a clubhouse. Members pay initiation fees of $75,000 to $100,000, according to court records. As part of his testimony, Andrew Coleman, the general manager/chief operating officer of the Country Club, described the club in court documents as a “premier boutique country club in the Boston area.”
Taxed separately, the Appellate Tax Board has awarded abatements (or refunds) totaling $173,531 for the parcel at 171-181 Winter Street for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023, and abatements totaling $163,485 on the parcel at 181 Winter Street for the same three fiscal years.
Epstein told board members the Appellate Tax Board’s assessments are “presumed valid” for two fiscal years following a court opinion (in this case, FY2024 and FY2025). If the club wishes to appeal the town’s property assessments for either of those years, the burden of proof shifts to the town. Normally, the burden of proof falls to the taxpayer.
“Belmont assessed what it believed to be the market value of the country club land and improvements, structures— and the land is then subject to a 61B reduction,” Epstein said during the July 30 meeting.
Through Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 61B, certain types of land defined as recreational can apply for and receive a significant cut in property taxes. Critics of the law, however, are pushing to change how it’s applied in Belmont.
Speaking to legislators last July at a hearing on a bill (H.3970) that seeks to update the tax treatment of recreational land in Belmont, former Select Board member Elizabeth Dionne said the only entity in town that applies for the 75% tax break is the Belmont Country Club. Responding to legislators, Dionne said the club receives a tax break of nearly $400,000, and despite repeated efforts by the town, the club has not expressed interest in participating in a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program.
Epstein, however, isn’t confident the bill has much chance of success.
“Regardless of the merits … there’s no indication that the Legislature as a whole wants to change this,” he said.
According to Sen. William Brownsberger’s office, H.3970 is currently pending in the House Committee on Revenue. Its reporting date has been extended to Jan. 4, the end of the current legislative session, allowing further time for the House committee to review and consider it before making a final determination about whether to advance it in the House, reject it, or send it to study.
