A group of homeowners in Brunswick is hoping a judge will stop the town from issuing a solar panel tax.
Seven families in Brunswick have appealed to Cumberland County Superior Court. They say a solar panel tax is bad for Brunswick and will prevent people from choosing to take the green energy route.
Jake Plante is part of a group in Brunswick that’s unhappy with the town’s solar panel tax.
“All of this is arbitrary,” Plante said. “There’s no real research behind any of this.”
Brunswick’s town attorney said the tax came up after the town was re-evaluated in 2017.
The town assessor decided each individual panel a person owns is valued at $200, no matter the age, size or visibility.
For these homeowners, it adds $3.87 per panel to their tax bill.
“Whether you have an old panel that’s 20 years old and barely producing energy or a brand-new panel, they’re charging the same rate,” Marcia Harrington said.
The town’s attorney argued solar panels add to a home’s market value.
“If you have that on your house compared to a house that wouldn’t then most likely there would be a little bit more value for the house that does have solar panels,” Brunswick’s attorney, Steven Langsdorf, said.
Langsdorf said Brunswick legally must tax these homeowners.
“Any real estate or property that has value has to be taxed under the Constitution unless there’s a specific exemption set forth under state law,” Langsdorf said.
Langsdorf said if the state creates a law that exempts taxing solar panels, the town would happily support it.
Harrington hopes that the next step.
“Hopefully at some point there will be a state tax that outlaws towns from taxing solar panels altogether. In the meantime, we’re trying to make a little stand here that this is just not the way they should be going,” Harrington said.