As communities across Maine reel from a recent wave of property assessments that have sent taxes soaring, others are desperate for a revaluation of their own.
Towns rely on revaluations to ensure that its property values align with market rates. Maine homeowners have seen their property values soar in such recent assessments in the wake of the pandemic that saw new home buyers flood the market.
But the price tag for those reassessments has forced communities to push off paying for one for years, Kate Dufour, director of advocacy and communications for the Maine Municipal Association said.
“It’s costly. That’s not an understatement,” Dufour said, noting that municipal valuations can cost between $100,000 to $500,000.
And once a town is prepared to foot the bill for a revaluation, it’s a slow process that can take up to two years. That can be exacerbated by the fact that many municipalities are on similar budget cycles, meaning they are requesting assessors at similar times.
“Many” communities across Maine are currently waiting for a revaluation, Dufour said.
Without recent revaluations, these towns are forced to rely on raising their tax rates to generate funds while home values stagnate. This can make the town less appealing to both residents and those looking to move when comparing against other municipalities, because the tax rate doesn’t show how recent a valuation was done or the average price of a home in the area, two things that largely affect property taxes.
More importantly, a land revaluation is meant to make property taxes more equitable, Dufour said. When towns can’t afford them, residents may end up paying more or less than they should be based on how their home’s value has changed since the town’s last valuation.
At least two towns in Penobscot County have not had revaluations done in years because of how expensive the process is.
Winn, a town of roughly 400, has a tax rate of $23, which means a resident with a house worth $200,000 would pay $4,600 in property taxes.
The town has considered paying for a revaluation to lower the tax rate, but it wouldn’t affect how much residents actually pay, Winn Selectman Robert Berry said.
“We could lower our mill rate … but we would still be paying the same in taxes, right? So it’s not worth paying for revaluation,” Berry said.
Winn is now considering disbanding entirely, in part because of how high its tax rate has become.
Milford, which has a population of more than 2,300, hasn’t had a revaluation in 17 years, Town Manager David Dionne said. Its tax rate is $24.61.
When a resident at a September Select Board meeting asked if Milford was going to do a revaluation soon, Selectman John Costigan said it was “coming up” and is “going to be expensive.”
But Milford doesn’t have room for the $100,000 cost in its budget, Dionne said.
Meanwhile, other residents were against a reassessment, fearing that it would likely increase their property taxes when bills are already high.
Historically, a third of residents have paid more in property taxes after a revaluation, a third have paid less and a third have stayed the same.
A recent revaluation in Maine’s Unorganized Territory saw some homeowner’s property taxes surge by 60% because their homes were in vacation destinations. Other homeowners saw little to no change in their taxes because their home’s value didn’t increase by much and their county’s tax rate was lowered.
The time to complete a revaluation can also be lengthy.
Bangor is in the process of one that was approved by City Council in 2023 and expected to be completed in 2026.
It’s the Queen City’s first revaluation in 37 years.