[Ord. No. 02-10, § 1, 4-24-2002; amended 4-19-2017 by Ord. No. 17-09]
The Town Council shall have the authority upon completion of any comprehensive revaluation or update pursuant to G.L. 1956, § 44-5-11.6 to adopt and/or amend a tax classification by ordinance subject to:
(1) 
The designated classes of property shall be limited to the four classes as defined in § 36-140.
(2) 
The Town Council may adopt tax rates for the property class for all ratable tangible personal property no greater than twice the rate applicable to any other class, provided that the Town documents to, and receives written approval from, the office of municipal affairs that the rate difference is necessary to ensure that the estimated tax levy on the property class for all ratable tangible personal property is not reduced from the prior year as a result of the revaluation or statistical revaluation.
[Amended 2-21-2018 by Ord. No. 18-01]
(3) 
Any tax rate changes from one year to the next shall be applied such that the same percentage rate change is applicable to all classes.
(4) 
Notwithstanding Subsections (2) and (3) above, the tax rates applicable to wholesale and retail inventory within Class 3 as defined in § 36-140 are governed by the provisions of G.L. 1956, § 44-3-29.1.
(5) 
Notwithstanding Subsections (2) and (3) above the tax rates applicable to motor vehicles within Class 4 as defined in § 36-140 are governed by the provisions of G.L. 1956, § 44-34.1-1.
[Ord. No. 02-10, § 1, 4-24-2002]
There shall be four classes of property.
(1) 
Class 1: Residential real estate consisting of no more than five dwelling units, land classified as open space, and dwellings on leased land including mobile homes. A homestead exemption provision is also authorized within this class, provided however, that the actual effective rate applicable to property qualifying for this exemption shall be construed as the standard rate for this class against which the maximum rate applicable to another class shall be determined.
(2) 
Class 2: Commercial and industrial real estate, residential properties containing partial commercial or business uses and residential real estate of more than five dwelling units.
(3) 
Class 3: All ratable tangible personal property.
(4) 
Class 4: Motor vehicles and trailers subject to the excise tax created by G.L. 1956, § 44-34-1 et seq.
[Ord. No. 04-26A, § 1, 10-20-2004; Ord. No. 08-14, § 1, 4-23-2008]
The Town Council finds that the ever increasing property taxes caused by the continually decreasing amount of state aid to education and other economic factors requires the Town Council to adopt an ordinance regulating the maximum annual percentage increase in real estate property taxes.
[Ord. No. 04-26A, § 1, 10-20-2004; Ord. No. 08-14, § 1, 4-23-2008; Ord. No. 08-15, § 1, 5-7-2008]
The Town of Cumberland Town Council hereby restricts the maximum tax increase in any one year to a certain percentage set forth below. The Town of Cumberland hereby restricts the annual tax increase to an amount not to exceed the below percentages based upon the prior fiscal year's tax rate. In the case when the certified total taxable net assessed value is less than the certified total taxable net assessed value of the prior year, the tax rate increase may be greater than the rates listed below subject to the provisions of RIGL § 44-5-2.
Fiscal Year
Maximum Tax Increase
2006
5%
2007
4 1/2%
2008
4%
2009
3 1/2%
2010
3%
Thereafter the maximum increase shall be not greater than 3%.
For the purposes of this section a fiscal year is defined as that year ending on June 30. For instance, fiscal year 2006 is for the period July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006. Further, the maximum increase in any fiscal year shall be the percentage for that fiscal year applied to the total taxes for the prior fiscal year. With regard to RIGL 45-5-2 (c)(3), if the Town forecasts or experiences debt service expenditure increases which are of a greater rate than the allowed maximum tax levy rate increase the portion of the increase in excess of the allowed tax levy rate increase is exempt from the requirements of this section. The cost of debt service expenditure associated with a percentage increase exceeding the maximum allowable rate increase shall not be included in the allowable tax levy increase required by this section.
[Ord. No. 04-29, §§ 1 — 4, 11-3-2004; Ord. No. 13-07, § 1, 4-8-2013; amended 4-15-2020 by Ord. No. 20-07]
(a) 
The Town Council of the Town of Cumberland shall consider and adopt on an annual basis two tax levy resolutions due to its unsynchronized budget system. The first tax levy resolution shall be approved in the month of April (the "April tax levy resolution"). The second tax levy resolution shall be passed upon approval of the subsequent fiscal year budget (the "budget tax levy resolution"). Attachment 1 to this Code of Ordinances is entitled "Sample Tax Levy Resolutions."[1] These resolutions specify the total property tax levy amount within an estimated range of upper and lower values.
[1]
Editor's Note: Said attachment is on file in the Town offices.
(b) 
For purposes of effective reporting and full disclosure of anticipated tax revenue, assessment and rate information for which the annual tax levy resolutions are based upon, it is hereby required that the proposed tax levy resolutions be submitted to the Town Council with attached annual tax levy worksheets, as represented by Attachment 1, entitled "Attachment 1, Sample Tax Levy Worksheets."[2] This requirement must be adhered to in addition to the requirements of all existing state and local tax-levy-related statutes and ordinances.
[2]
Editor's Note: Said attachment is on file in the Town offices.
(c) 
The April tax levy resolution and accompanying worksheet are required to calculate the current fiscal year tax levy amount and the particular tax rates necessary to generate this levy amount through April 30 of the following year. Such rates are required to be applied to the annual property tax bills subsequent to the Town Council approval of the tax levy resolution and the attached annual tax levy worksheet. The budget tax levy resolution and accompanying worksheet are required to calculate the subsequent fiscal year tax levy amount and the particular tax rates necessary to generate this levy amount from May 1 of the following year. The April tax levy resolution worksheet is required by this section to include and represent the accurate calculation of the annual tax rates based upon the most recent tax assessment values as of December 31 of the preceding year as provided and certified by the Town Tax Assessor. The budget tax levy resolution worksheet is required to include and represent the accurate calculation of the annual tax rates based upon projected tax assessment values for the following December 31 provided by the Town Tax Assessor. The estimated first tax quarter collection rate, the annual estimated collection rate, the estimated abatement data, the estimated current fiscal year total expenditure and revenue amounts and the estimated discount participation values are values which are also hereby required to be used within the calculations listed on the required annual tax levy worksheets.
(d) 
The proposed annual tax levy worksheets are required to include the application of an estimated first tax quarter collection rate. The worksheet estimating the first tax quarter collection rate is required to be either equal to or not greater than one percentage point more than the actual first tax quarter collection rate of the preceding annual tax period or equal to or not greater than one percentage point more than the average collection rate of the last five preceding first tax quarter collection rates. The Finance Director is required to list on the worksheet the actual first tax quarter collection rate sustained for each of the preceding five annual tax periods. The first tax quarter collection rate, annual estimated collection rate, the estimated abatement data, the estimated current fiscal year total expenditure and revenue amount and the estimated discount participation rate are normal values which are also hereby required to be used within the calculations listed on the required annual tax levy worksheets.