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Belgrade Property Revaluation Possible - Shoreland Owners Targeted

November 09, 2009 - BELGRADE -- Officials are considering a townwide property revaluation to ensure shoreland owners are paying their fair share.

Town Manager Dennis Keschl said the town's assessors believe people who do not own waterfront property may be paying too much.

"According to our assessors, there may be an inequity in what back property owners are paying," Keschl said.

Keschl said the market value of waterfront property is growing at a significantly higher rate than other property.

Towns are required by the state to do a revaluation at least once every 10 years, he said. Revaluations are also done when assessed values become out of synch with market values.

Keschl said Belgrade's valuation currently is $446.9 million, based on the market value of the town in 2004 -- the year a townwide valuation was last completed -- plus additional value from new construction since then.

Keschl said the state value of the town is $616.1 million -- a difference of $169.2 million.

"Therefore, we are at approximately 72.5 percent of market value," he said. "The majority of this difference in value is due to the growth in market value of the waterfront property since our town revaluation in 2004," he said.

He said another revaluation will bring property values back in line with the market value.

Market value is the price at which buyers and sellers trade an item in an open marketplace.

When a revaluation is done, towns' tax rates are adjusted lower, and taxes paid by people who do not own waterfront property should also be lower, he said.

He said waterfront properties will then see an increase in taxes because of the increased market value of their property.

The town's current tax rate is $14.10 per $1,000 worth of assessed property value.

"The question is whether or not to move forward with a reval," Keschl said. "Assessors would come in and look at all the information and status of property and develop a factor across the board to determine what a fair taxation should be."

If officials agree on the proposal, he said, it would be brought for a vote at the next annual town meeting.

The town's assessor, Robert Duplisea, said the first big step to determine whether to go ahead with a revaluation, which wouldn't be completed until 2011, is to conduct a sales analysis of property to determine the final value.

"After that, we'll know if there's been a shift in property values," Duplisea said.

BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer, Kennebec Journal, 11/06/2009


Lakes: Great Pond, Long Pond
Regions: Belgrade


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