Easton begins revaluation
EASTON, Maine — A revaluation project mandated by the state is now underway in Easton, involving all residential and commercial property (homes and businesses) — 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. They took about $339,000 away from us, which we had overlay that covered the loss for our 2014 budget. They told us if we didn’t bring property values up to current rates, they’d continue to cut our funding,” said Town Manager Jim Gardner.
Gardner said unless the town addresses the issue, Easton will lose money in the form of subsidies from the state.
“We’re not at the level the state says we should be. We’ve hired Garnett Robinson, of Dixmont, owner of Maine Appraisal and Assessment, to come here and go house to house, business to business, performing our revaluation,” he said.
Gardner said this will be a town-wide project. A public hearing was held May 5, with about 67 people in attendance.
“It was all informational. 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 this means 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 once completed, another full revaluation wouldn’t be necessary for the town, provided certain record keeping is maintained.
“If we maintain files and do this right, we’ll never see another revaluation. 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 mil 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 .1 mil increase.
“The county budget is $278,000, up from $267,400 last year, which is up about $11,000 or a .03 mil increase. The school will 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 mil increase. Once budget figures are finalized, we’re looking at approximately a 1.5 mil increase, before we assess properties,” explained Gardner.
Last year the Easton mil rate was 17.4 percent. 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 mil rate will be at this point, nor what a 1.5 mil 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 Garnett 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 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.
FMI, call 488-6652.
