Carlisle Select Board Receives Split Tax Exemption Report Ahead of Town Meeting

CARLISLE — April 21, 2026 — Carlisle Select Board receives divided tax exemption overhaul report days before Town Meeting. The Tax Relief Evaluation Task Force, presenting to the full board Tuesday, recommended five steps to replace or supplement Concord's residential tax exemption, including pursuing the more targeted MGL Chapter 41C-and-a-half senior exemption and piloting an affordable rental relief program — but split four to three on whether to phase out the RTE before or after replacements are in place. Presenters Lynn Allen and Ellen reported the RTE shifts $3.2 million of the tax levy annually, with rental units bearing 30 percent of that burden at an average of $390 per unit per year, while only 52 percent of total RTE benefits flow to low-income homeowners. The board also heard a competing wireless bylaw proposal from resident and attorney Gail, who plans to offer a substitute for the Planning Board's Article 35 at Town Meeting that would retain the town's wireless overlay district and strengthen monitoring requirements, which the board will weigh at a joint session with the Planning Board on April 29. A vote on whether to support a revised Article 42 composting feasibility study, backed by the Concord Carlisle High School Sunrise Movement Club, was deferred pending Public Works Commission input.