I’m a clear newbie at 13 years but what brought us to the town originally, was the schools. The HS rankings have declined over the past decade. Remember the 2022 $96.3 million renovation of LPS paid 100% by residents. Over budget by $2.4 million. Serving 539 students. Look at the rankings. Compare these to every adjacent town with lower property tax rates.
⸻
📊 Recent Rankings for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
• Boston Magazine:
• 2023: Ranked #9 in Greater Boston.
• 2024: Dropped to #36.
• Niche:
• 2025: Ranked #12 among Best Public High Schools in Massachusetts.
• SchoolDigger:
• 2024: Ranked 18th out of 348 Massachusetts high schools.
• U.S. News & World Report:
• 2023-2024: Ranked #83 in Massachusetts and #2,124 nationally.
🏫 School Rankings
• Niche (2025):
• Best Public Middle Schools in Massachusetts: Ranked #56 out of 450.
• Best Public Elementary Schools in Massachusetts: Ranked #136 out of 991.
• SchoolDigger (2024):
• Elementary School Ranking: Ranked #80 out of 916 Massachusetts public elementary schools.
• Middle School Ranking: Ranked #48 out of 493 Massachusetts public middle schools.
• U.S. News & World Report:
• Massachusetts Elementary Schools: Ranked #42.
• Massachusetts Middle Schools: Ranked #20.
For those who for whatever reason may not plan to live in this town forever, the tax rate/average tax bill absolutely has an impact on the future marketability/value of your home.
To sell your home you need people to want to move into your town. This may arguably be one of the most beautiful towns in Ma- but value, best schools, fiscal responsibility?
However one feels about the CC, fiscal accountability, please come and vote.
Julie
Sent from my iPhone
Lincoln already has the third highest tax bills in the state which also impacts housing prices. This is why houses in Lincoln sell for less on a per square foot basis than other comparable towns.
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Sent from my iPhone
Laura, it is a thoughtful observation. Of course, this is just one use of taxpayer money and if you look at all of the other capital needs the town will have in the next 10 years, it’s sobering. So there will be more tax increases coming, larger ones and sooner than you think especially since the same group advocating the now almost $30m community center is now advocating using a large portion of our reserves to fund cost overruns. The reality however - voter turnout is very low. This now needs a 2/3 vote to pass and the community center voters will be out in full force. However those who advocate for fiscal restraint need to show up and bring their friends or this too shall pass.The emails are great but people need to vote and get others to do so.Seth On Jun 4, 2025, at 4:41 PM, Laura Glynn <[email protected]> wrote:
I wish we knew why people were moving out of Lincoln - and which groups are leaving
Certainly some people leave because of new jobs, retirement, health and other issues
But I believe that a number of people, especially elderly and/or lower or middle income are leaving or have left because of the taxes
It would be ironic if the town spends more and more money to offer middle income housing when the tax increase drives out the very people we are trying to keep
Yes I know the town has a property tax work off program but that only helps a small group
I was a big law corporate lawyer for 40 years and I struggle to pay these damn property taxes
I can’t image what these tax increases have done for those Lincoln residents on fixed income or who don’t have family money to keep them afloat
It seems that finding out why we are losing residents to other towns should be something we should care about
If any of the brokers in town can give me a list of property sales and names of sellers for the last 5 years I would be happy to Investigate and report back
I hope we don’t want a town limited to people who move in for the schools and move out when the kids graduate to or from high school.
Laura Glynn
Tower Road
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