Add Bath to the list of Maine towns where property taxes will continue to rise.
Residents of the 8,800-person Bath Iron Works home just saw their property taxes increase significantly as a result of the city’s recent reassessment.
The reassessment is based on data compiled from July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023, and was conducted by Assessor Brenda Cummings and Assistant Assessor Jason Marshall, according to the city’s website. .
Generally, to maintain compliance with state law, local governments conduct revaluations when assessed values fall below 70% of market value due to the passage of time, asset price inflation due to a weaker U.S. dollar, or other reasons. Masu. Significant changes in demand in the housing market.
Related to this ratio is the resident’s property tax exemption amount, primarily the homeownership tax exemption amount. Homeowners pay lower taxes on their primary residence if they have lived in the location for at least 12 months by April 1 of the tax filing year.
However, the amount of the exemption depends on how closely the town’s assessed value matches market value. For example, if a municipality’s assessed property value is calculated to be 80 percent of market value, the homeowner would only be eligible to receive 80 percent, or $20,000, of the state’s $25,000 homeownership deduction.
Bath said on its website that it completed a revaluation this year to maintain a 100 percent valuation-to-market ratio.
Since 2019, home prices in Maine have nearly doubled, according to data tracked by the St. Louis Federal Reserve. These new sales prices will contribute to new valuations for homes that are not on the market. This means that Maina residents who have owned their homes for more than 20 years will suddenly be obligated to pay twice as much property tax, even if they have little income. I grew up.
(Related: Sticker Shock — Maine Homeowners Burdened by Property Tax Increases Due to Recent Reassessment)
According to a table shared by the City of Bath on its website, the average value change for all taxable properties was 19.42 per cent and the average tax change was 16.59 per cent.
As a result of this revaluation, property taxes increased by an average of about 20%, with commercial properties and apartment buildings of four or more units seeing the most dramatic increases.
The value of residential real estate increased by an average of 19.36 points, resulting in an average increase in property taxes of 16.54 percent.
Overall, the change in tax rates is less than the increase in assessed value. That’s because Bath’s milling rate, or tax levied per $1,000 of value, has fallen this year from $16.90 to $16.50.
Bath Assessor Cummings told the Portland Press Herald that these tax increases hit some seniors especially hard because they participated in short-term property tax stabilization programs.
Last year, the city of Bath received about $2.7 million in rebates from the state for property tax exemptions, including those provided through the stabilization program.
This year, seniors who participated in the program last year will be responsible for two years’ worth of increases, with an even larger increase coming in fiscal year 2025.
Bath resident Cheryl Young told the paper she couldn’t understand why her property taxes had gone up.
“All I know is that it’s going to keep going up. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Young said.
She went on to explain that she purchased the home in March 1998 and paid approximately $1,100 in taxes each year. With the same house and garage on a half-acre lot, she currently pays $4,800 a year in property taxes.
“I understand that prices have gone up over the last few years, but it feels like all of a sudden over the last few years they’ve gone up a lot,” Young said.
Bath residents have until October 15 to pay their property taxes to the city.
(Related: South Portland residents passionately address property tax concerns before City Council)
South Portland residents faced similar problems when they filed their property tax bills in August and found themselves liable for significantly higher property taxes, with some paying as much as 60%. Some saw an increase.
“Taxes have gone up by almost 60 percent,” resident Millie Pelletier said at a meeting last week. “I went and asked for a re-evaluation. I’m 100 percent disabled. I don’t have a kitchen. My house has connected bedrooms, so it’s not technically a three-bedroom house, it’s a third-bedroom house. There is no closet in the bedroom.
“Next month, my family will have lived in this house for 100 years,” Pelletier said. “I took over the house. It took a lot of work to save it. But now I’m afraid I’ll be the one to lose it.”
“When I went to the assessor’s office, I was told it was a record tax increase,” Pelletier said, visibly choking as she spoke.
Another resident, Donna Cain, said she has been a South Portland taxpayer since 1987 and has never seen anything like this.
“I’ve had property taxes increase in the past, but when I opened my most recent bill, it was 40% higher, which really shocked me,” Kane said.
“I spoke to my 90-year-old neighbor and she was furious and said the bill had doubled and it was outrageous,” Kane continued. “And there’s something wrong. There must be something wrong.”
South Portland Mayor Misha Pride recently encouraged elderly residents struggling to pay rising property taxes to take advantage of reverse mortgages that leverage the value of their homes to satisfy tax collectors. I was instructed to consider it.
