Frequently Asked Questions

The Massachusetts State Building Code states that "it shall be unlawful to construct, reconstruct, alter, repair, remove, or demolish a structure; or to change the use or occupancy of a building or structure, or to install or alter any equipment for which provision is made or the installation of which is regulated by the code" without first obtaining a building permit. This includes, but is not limited to new structures, additions, dormers, chimneys, woodstoves, decks, roofing, siding, swimming pools, antennae, and sheds. The only exception is an ordinary repair. An ordinary repair does not require a building permit.

For more information, contact the Building Department at 978-649-2300, ext. 112.

Most projects will require three sets of construction plans, a certified plot plan, along with the permit fee. For more information, contact the Building Department at 978-649-2300, ext. 112.

Please refer to the zoning bylaw and zoning map to determine your setbacks. You may also find out by contacting the us at 978-649-2300, ext. 112.

Massachusetts General Law Chapter 59 Section 11 states "taxes on real estate shall be assessed, in the town where it lies, to the person who is the owner on January 1" As such, the assessed owner as of January 1 will still appear on the bill as well as the name of the current owner for the remainder of the fiscal year (July 1- June 30). Unfortunately, the Post Office may see the previous owner name and forward mail. If this is the case, simply notify our office and we will reissue bill.

If you received a bill for a property you no longer own, please notify our office so we can reissue a new bill to the current owner. Refer to the paragraph above for an explanation.

Residents can reach out directly to our office to receive a new copy of their bill. Remember, under state law, failure to receive a bill does not affect the validity of the tax or any interest or fines incurred due to late payments.

It is the responsibility of the taxpayer to secure his/her tax bill when one is not received. You can request a Duplicate Tax Bill by contacting our office directly.

Massachusetts Law requires that we send a copy of the Real Estate Tax Bill to each resident, regardless of who pays the mortgage. Mortgage companies and banks use third-party tax services to acquire information about your bill. Residents can confirm their bills were paid by contacting our office directly.

Alerts powered by Smart911 is the Town of Tyngsborough's official emergency alert and notification system. This system is used to send alerts to the public during emergencies. Alerts powered by Smart911 is a free service that allows you to sign up online to receive customized alerts via text message, email, and voice message.

In addition to emergency alerts, you can also choose to receive customizable community notifications. These include notifications about severe weather, safety, health, utility disruptions, major traffic incidents, and more. This service is provided by the Town of Tyngsborough at no cost to the public; however, message and data rates may apply.

When emergencies happen, be the first to know. The Town of Tyngsborough uses Alerts powered by Smart911 to send official, real-time alerts to the public with information about potentially life-saving actions they may need to take to keep themselves and their families safe. By signing up for Alerts powered by Smart911, you are taking a large step toward improving your personal safety.

When an emergency occurs that meets the criteria for sending out an alert to the public, the Town of Tyngsborough's emergency dispatchers will gather the necessary information and push out an alert to the affected area. Alerts can be sent out city-wide to everyone who has opted-in to the system, or to a specific area or neighborhood for more localized events.

This service is provided by the Town of Tyngsborough at no cost to the public; however, message and data rates may apply depending on your provider and phone services.

While Alerts powered by Smart911 is an excellent system, we cannot guarantee that you will receive notifications in all cases. Disasters and emergencies are chaotic and unpredictable, and notification is dependent on external providers such as your wireless carrier or email delivery service outside the Town of Tyngsborough's control. Alerts powered by Smart911 will use several means of communication to try to ensure that should any one communications method, technology, or delivery option be unavailable to reach residents, other methods will be used to improve the likelihood that citizens will see the message.

Signing up for Alerts powered by Smart911 is easy! Register your contact information.

Update your existing Alerts powered by Smart911 preferences.

Alerts powered by Smart911 are available to anyone who lives, works, travels through, or visits the Town of Tyngsborough. The address can be your home location, work location, or any other location you care about.

Town of Tyngsborough residents who have a landline phone may receive alerts. However, there are strict rules governing when the Town of Tyngsborough can use this contact information to send out an alert. Only extremely critical alerts containing potentially life-saving information will be sent. In order to ensure that you are able to get all emergency alerts we recommend that you sign-up for Alerts powered by Smart911 online. If you do not sign up and register your contact information, you will not receive alerts on your preferred devices and may miss out on receiving important safety information.

You can visit your local library to sign up online for Alerts powered by Smart911. Those who do not have computer access are also welcome to attend one of the many scheduled opt-in events hosted by the Town of Tyngsborough.

Emergency alerts are sent 24/7 when there is an immediate threat to life and/or property. In addition to emergency alerts, you can also choose to receive customizable community notifications. These include notifications about:

• Severe
• Safety risks
• Health risks
• Transportation disruption
• Special event information
• Test messages

You are not able to reply to texts or emails sent by Alerts powered by Smart911. Voice messages provide a dial-back number to replay an alert message.

Once you have signed up online and confirmed your contact information within the system, you will begin receiving alerts.

Follow the below steps to change your Alerts powered by Smart911 preferences (for example, to reduce the number of messages of a certain type, or to change the contacts used for each kind of message):

• Go to the login page for Alerts powered by Smart911
• Login using your Alerts powered by Smart911 username and password (If you've forgotten these, follow the instructions on the page under "Forgot Username or Password?")
• Once signed in, click the 'Preferences' tab at the top
• Under 'Notification Preferences', you can make changes to both the phone numbers and email addresses on which you want to receive Alerts powered by Smart911 messages by clicking or unclicking the checkboxes
• You can also choose what alerts you want to receive and the method you wish to receive them by (text, voice, email)
• For example, if you wish to turn off all messages regarding Transportation Disruptions, simply uncheck the box to the left of "Transportation Disruption"
• If you wish instead only to receive emails for Transportation Disruption notifications, instead uncheck the "Text" and / or "Voice" choices, so that only "Email" remains checked

The frequency for which you receive alerts depends on the addresses you provide and the types of alerts you select to receive as well as the frequency of actual emergencies. Emergency alerts will only be sent when there is an immediate threat to life and/or property. Community notifications will be sent when the criteria for sending an alert are met.

This system is not intended to bombard you with information. The City will only send you alerts about the information you select to receive. To change your alert settings, log in and edit your preferences.

If a call completes and is sent to your answering machine or voice mail system, a message is left. If a phone call is not answered or busy, the system redials your number several times.

No, your information is private and will not be used or distributed in any manner. The information that you provide is exempt from public disclosure and will be used for emergency purposes only.

Personal information provided to Alerts powered by Smart911 is private and only used to notify you for official Town of Tyngsborough communications and to support the Town of Tyngsborough's emergency services.

Your information is not used for marketing purposes and will not be sold to telemarketers or data-mining organizations. A variety of "opt-in" mechanisms are available to ensure you are getting just the messages you want to receive, delivered via the devices and communications modes that you choose.

Alerts powered by Smart911 utilizes the highest standards in physical and computer security technologies and conducts regular audits to ensure all information is kept secure. Privacy policies are also outlined in the Terms and Conditions you review when you sign up to receive Alerts powered by Smart911 notifications.

A housing trust can advance the Town's local affordable housing goals which can be found in the current five-year Housing Production Plan adopted by the Select Board and Redevelopment Board in 2021. By establishing designated funds and creating a board to oversee their use, Tyngsboro can provide a local way to advocate for and facilitate the development of affordable workforce housing. Many current and future residents cannot afford to purchase or rent a home in town because of the high cost of housing; the trust can establish a locally-directed and coordinated process to help meet this need.

A local housing trust allows municipalities to collect funds for affordable housing, separate them from the general fund into a trust fund, and designate and use the funds for local initiatives to create and preserve affordable housing. The sources vary among housing trusts. Under MGL c.44 s.55C sources of funding for trusts include: Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds, inclusionary zoning payments, negotiated developer fees, the Town's general fund, grants, gifts, and private donations. However, any funding from the Town's general fund or from the CPA would require Town Meeting action.

• Provide financial support for the construction of affordable workforce homes by private developers (non-profit or for- profit);
• Rehabilitate existing homes and apartments to convert to affordable workforce housing (rental or resale);
• Increase affordability in existing and future housing developments by providing funds to decrease debt and decrease the need for high rents;
• Develop surplus municipal property for affordable workforce housing;
• Preserve properties faced with expiring affordability restrictions in partnership with the owner or a new owner;
• Create programs to assist low- and moderate-income homebuyers;
• Create programs to help low- and moderate-income families make health and safety repairs; and
• Educate and advocate to advance affordable workforce housing initiatives.

Further, it is often the case when developing affordable workforce housing that local funds are the first committed funds to a project. A Trust can serve as a vehicle to aggregate existing resources as well as leverage new public and private resources to support the creation and preservation of affordable units by entities such as the Tyngsboro Housing Authority, or other non-profits.

The Massachusetts Housing Partnership regularly collects and disseminates information about Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts through their Community Assistance Team. The most recent guidebook provides additional background and information about Trusts, including examples of Trusts in practice.

No. You will continue to receive one bill from National Grid. You will continue to send your payments to National Grid for processing. National Grid will continue to respond to emergencies, read meters, and maintain the distribution and transmission lines. Reliability and quality of service will remain the same. Furthermore, you will continue to have all existing consumer rights and protections. The only noticeable difference will be in the appearance of your National Grid bill.

You do not need to take any action to participate in the Program. All Basic Service consumers that have received the notification letter and have not opted-out will be enrolled in the Program.

You will continue to receive those benefits.

You will continue to receive your net metering credits.

If you have received a notification letter and have already chosen a competitive supplier on your own, you must opt-out of this Program. This will ensure you continue to get your electricity from that Competitive Supplier. If you wish to leave that Competitive Supplier to be part of the Program, before opting-in, we suggest that you verify with that Competitive Supplier that they will not charge you any penalties for leaving their supply service.

If you have received a notification letter and have already chosen a green power supply option, you must opt-out of this Program. This will ensure you continue to get your electricity from that Green Power Supply.

You may

1. Opt-out and continue paying National Grid’s Basic Service rate; or
2. Opt-out and choose your own Competitive Supplier (if one is available to you).

Consistent with the requirements of Massachusetts law, you may be switched back to the National Grid's Basic Service.

The tyngsborough Community Choice Power Supply Program has no penalty charges whether you are opting out or opting in.

For help understanding your bill, visit the National Grid Website.