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Casco Waterfront Property Owners Poised for Higher Taxes

October 03, 2007 - Casco property owners are anxiously awaiting tax bills this week, their first since a town-wide revaluation increased property values.


The revaluation is the first for Casco in 15 years. One was planned for 2005, but the former tax assessor died during the process, and the project was put on hold. But the new assessor, John O'Donnell, picked up the project, and his firm, O'Donnell Associates of New Gloucester, was hired to evaluate each property as part of a full revaluation.

Because of the spike in the housing market since the last revaluation, home values in Casco, especially those of waterfront homes, have significantly increased in value.

"The longer you go (without a revaluation) the bigger those changes are," said O'Donnell.

But some residents think that Casco officials have used the death of the former town assessor as an excuse for the delay in a revaluation. Cynthia Frink, who has a home on Coffee Pond, said Casco should have done a revaluation long before the former assessor's death.

"They should have done it within 10 years and they didn't. They have all kinds of excuses. I know the (former assessor died), but the fact is they should have moved him along faster," said Frink.

Casco Selectwoman Barbara York agreed that the revaluation should have been completed earlier.

"Understandably they're concerned. We should have had it five years ago" because the valuations wouldn't have changed so significantly and had such an impact, she said.

York expects waterfront homes will see the brunt of the impact, as has been the case with other towns in the Lakes Region that have recently completed full revaluations including Windham, Standish and Raymond.

Some in Casco who have requested explanations of their new values, don't trust the new figures. Frink and neighbors who live nearby on Coffee Pond have their homes situated on a rocky ledge. Frink said that because of this, it has been impossible to install a well on her property, which has cost her through the years. So when her property was revalued at roughly four times its previous value, Frink got in touch with O'Donnell Associates, which took a second look at her property.

Frink hopes her property value has been reduced, but said she won't know until she receives her tax bill. But now, she is angry with the process of the revaluation, and disagrees with the select board's methods. She said that most residents understood the need for revaluation, but that selectmen had not always been able to provide answers to residents' questions concerning the hiring of O'Donnell Associates, and the reason businesses, like Camp Cedar on Coffee Pond, have actually decreased in value.

"You don't trust people when they don't give you definite answers," said Frink.

Some residents have called into question the fact that the firm hired to do the revaluation is owned and operated by the town assessor. But O'Donnell said that he has been in the business for 30 years and has done revaluations in more than 30 different towns and said there is no conflict of interest.

"That's never, ever been raised before. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. I'm not sure what I'd be conflicted about," said O'Donnell.

O'Donnell said he understands residents' frustration, some of whom will now having to pay significantly higher property taxes. But he insisted revaluation is necessary due to state law, because Maine residents are supposed to be taxed according to current market value.

"Right now, you have people paying taxes on different percentages of value. The people who are paying too little are paying way too little, and the people who are paying too much are paying way too much, and there are people everywhere in between," said O'Donnell.

Joe Heffron, a Casco resident who lives near Sebago Lake, blames a broken system, and not town officials, for the tax burden on property owners in Maine. Heffron, who is a semi-retired attorney who focuses on business and real estate law, believes that public education should be funded by income and sales tax, not property tax.

"To now be funding these enormous educational facilities on the backs of the property taxpayers just doesn't make sense anymore," said Heffron.

Heffron added that he finds the animosity of some residents toward town officials to be distasteful.

"I was surprised at some of the supposedly intelligent people attacking the town officials for just doing their jobs. (Town officials) are only doing what they're directed to do. The assessor has been called every name in the book, and they want to lynch him, but he's just doing his job to the best of his ability," said Heffron.

SOURCE: KeepMECurrent.com (Scarborough,ME)
DATE: 09-27-2007


Lakes: Coffee Pond, Sebago Lake
Regions: Sebago


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