EASTON, Maine — A revaluation project mandated by the state is under way in Easton, involving all residential and commercial properties, with the exception of McCain Foods and Huber, which are already valued at 100 percent.
“Easton’s last revaluation occurred in 1992. State officials came last year and told us we were so far out of equality they were going to start penalizing us,” said Town Manager Jim Gardner. In fact, he said, state officials reduced subsidies to the community by $339,000 in 2014 and “told us if we didn’t bring property values up to current rates, they’d continue to cut our funding.”
In response, Gardner said the town has hired Garnett Robinson, owner of Maine Appraisal and Assessment Services in Dixmont “to come here and go house to house, business to business, performing our revaluation.”
Just under 70 people attended an informational hearing on the town-wide project on May 5, he said.
“It went very well,” said Gardner. “As long as I’m here [as town manager], my goal is to keep people informed.
“We want to bring everything to 100 percent of value, that includes individual and commercial personal property. There are a lot of new assessments in town. McCain and Huber already had theirs; we need to get where they are,” he said.
The town manager said the revaluation will mean a shift in taxes from industry to everyone else.
“If you have a new house, taxes are likely going to go up. That’s the way the tax program works,” said Gardner.
He indicated that once completed, another full revaluation wouldn’t be necessary if the town properly maintains records.
“If we do one-quarter of the town annually, in four years we’ll have everyone done. If we stay on that cycle, a full revaluation won’t be necessary,” said Gardner.
“The law says a town can only use taxpayer money to pay bills. The state restricts our overlay to 5 percent. Whatever’s left over, we use it to cut the mill rate,” said Gardner.
He said all budgets are in, with the town budget of $1,144,000 passing earlier this spring. He said hiring an individual for a town position will result in about a 0.1 mill increase in the property tax rate.
“The county budget is $278,000, up from $267,400 last year, which is up about $11,000 or a 0.03 mill increase. The school will be meeting June 1 at 7 p.m. at the elementary school cafeteria, to vote on a proposed budget of $3,759,495 — up from $3,541,630. That’s a little over 1 mill increase. Once budget figures are finalized, we’re looking at approximately a 1.5 mill increase, before we assess properties,” said Gardner.
Last year the Easton mill rate was $17.40 per $1,000 of property value. Last year’s overlay, according to Gardner, was about $99,400. This year that figure will be reduced to about $40,000.
“We try to look a year ahead, as a municipality. We know what we need to do,” he said.
“We can’t tell what the mill rate will be at this point, nor what a 1.5 mill increase will do to the revaluation assessment,” said Gardner.
He said the goal with the revaluation this year is to “keep costs close as we can,” since more assessed money means more revenue in the long run.
“Some may see an increase in taxes, while others may see a decline. Those with older homes will likely see their taxes increase the least,” said Gardner. “It’s all about fairness. Someone with a new home in 1992 shouldn’t be paying the same as someone with a new home today, for a similar structure. It’ll all depend on the type of building materials involved, location, size, etc.”
Residents should be seeing Robinson in their neighborhoods beginning this week.
“We’ll have boots on the ground and start the process this week. Folks don’t have to let [Robinson] in, but it’s in their best interest to do so. You may have a beautiful home from the outside but have cracked walls from a frost heave inside, for example, that are not visible from the road. That all factors into a home’s value,” he said. “Without entering, he’ll have to assume the type of construction. You could have cracks in your concrete basement or floor — things he won’t know without physically viewing them.”
The project is expected to take about two months to complete.
“The state mandates the revaluation be done by Aug. 15, with the revaluation likely affecting this year’s tax bill,” said Gardner.