Residences and businesses will continue to pay a single tax rate in Wareham next year, although town officials note that conditions for splitting the tax rate could arise as early as next summer.

Selectmen held a tax classification hearing with Director of Assessment Jacqui Nichols and Chairman of the Board of Assessors Steven Curry during their meeting Tuesday night. Though the town is still waiting on tax certification from the state, Selectmen voted to continue having residences and businesses pay the same rate, at the suggestion of Nichols and Curry.

Nichols said that a split rate, which would lower the tax burden on homeowners and raise it for businesses, shouldn't be considered until the tax base is 80 percent residential to 20 commercial. Right now Wareham is split 82 percent to 18 percent, according to Nichols.

Reaching that ratio is important because when splitting the rate, the burden is not equally distributed between residents and businesses. Nichols said for every 12 cents saved on the residential tax rate from a split, the commercial rate would increase by 55 cents, based on the preliminary numbers.

"When you have a lower percentage of commercial, the actual tax benefit to the residential taxpayer is very minimal while shifting a lot of the burden onto smaller commercial properties," she said.

Nichols also identified a possible 2015 tax rate for the town at $11.04 per $1,000 of assessed property value. That number is not final because the town is still waiting on tax certification from the state. That rate would be 27 cents higher than last year's tax rate of $10.77.

Town officials agreed that the possibility of reaching the 80/20 threshold for splitting the tax rate is not far off.

"Probably at the end of this fiscal year [June 30], we should have enough on the tax rolls with new business coming in . . . we're probably one year away," said Selectman Alan Slavin.

He said town officials should plan to meet in the summer to be proactive and discuss the consequences of splitting the tax rate.

"It's not a simple discussion and it's not a simple answer," Slavin said.

"We're not there yet but we're going to get there," said Selectman Patrick Tropeano. "And it's going to save the residents money."