By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

HARRISON — Knowing some residents may be experiencing serious sticker shock over new property values as the result of a town-wide revaluation, new Select Board member Deb Kane suggested a mill rate of $7.70 per thousand valuation.

In a 3-2 vote, the Harrison Select Board went with the lower figure than recommended by Assessor Agent John Wentworth as last week’s special assessing meeting.

Voting for the $7.70 figure were Kane, vice chair Phil Devlin and chairman Matthew Frank; against were Colleen Densmore and Nathan Sessions.

The previous mill rate was $12.95.

Wentworth put forth four mill rate options — $7.65, $7.70, $7.75 and $7.80. He noted that by state law the minimum rate would be $7.45, but using this figure would provide the town with no overlay. The max figure is $7.83.

Wentworth’s recommendation of $7.75 resulting in an overlay of $335,682 was based on the town’s recent revaluation.

“We will have some challenges (to new values assessed to properties), I’m sure. Or, perhaps there will be some errors. You don’t know,” he said. “For that alone, you want to have a healthy overlay.”

Last year, the town carried an overlay of $162,966. Wentworth added that unpaid real estate taxes for 2023 “exceed that by about $20,000.”

“I can’t say we didn’t have enough money to operate last year because of the size of the overlay, however, collecting some taxes from a previous year or the previous year or the previous with interest, we had enough to operate,” he said.

The revaluation pushed Harrison’s real estate figure to $1,149,632, 502 — up from $623,840,000.

“I’m seeing that the total property value has gone up by about 84.5%. Is that correct?” asked Frank, who had a calculator out and plugged in figures Wentworth doled out.

“Yes, our total value had changed. That’s correct. I didn’t do the division to see what the percentage was,” said Wentworth, pointing out that the same property values have been in place since 2009, which by state calculations were now at about 68% actual value — thus triggering the revaluation since the state requirement is a minimum of 70%. The state conducts a sales ratio analysis every year, Wentworth noted. “So, when you fall below 70%, that’s when the state wants you to do a revaluation,” he said.

Wentworth clarified the 84.5% hike could not be applied to every property. He also addressed the relationship between property values and tax rates.

“They’re two different things,” he said. “What people pay in taxes is based on what the town spends.”

Devlin urged town officials to provide taxpayers with an accurate picture explaining why a reval was needed and ultimately how the new property values effect the tax rate.

“We have to show people a little respect about all of this. I understand people will be confused, but I think the more information we can give them, the less consternation this will cause,” Devlin said. “It’s a tricky subject.”

While tax tables might by “tricky,” Wentworth said the bottom line is property values were at “60% of their value and hadn’t been revalued since 2009. There’s nobody in our town that doesn’t understand property values have increased significantly since 2009. We don’t have to make this too complex. People many not think their properties are worth what their valuations say, but from 2009 to 2024, there’s a whole lot of people who made an awful lot of money on real estate, correct?”

Some towns will use “factoring” from time to time to bring properties closer to market value, thus avoiding the need to do a revaluation. Wentworth said Harrison hasn’t used that method since 1985 or 1986.

Bringing the discussion back to what overlay figure would best suit the town, Select Board member Colleen Densmore asked what the current tax collection rate is?

As of July 1, the outstanding amount was $183,942 — with interest, $190,029.

If there is overlay left over at the end of a fiscal year, the money goes to the undesignated fund balance.

“I don’t think other towns have set they’re overlay this high. I just want to be sure we have a good rationale for setting it at that amount,” said Devlin on Wentworth’s recommendation.

When asked why he went with $7.75 rather than $7.80, Wentworth felt the higher number would be “unreasonable.”

“My whole thing is there’s shell shock already as far as valuations go. So, the most reasonable we can be on the tax rate, the better for all of us,” Select Board member Kane said.

Town Manager Cass Newell chimed in adding another dimension to the “what’s the best number for the overlay” debate. Because taxpayers cut $58,000 from the administrative line in this year’s budget, the town is limited fund wise if officials need to call for special town meetings during this fiscal year. Funds for advertising, staffing and other matters pertaining to holding a special town meeting are within the administrative budget.

A recent example was the request by United Ambulance for the town to cover a per call cost. The request came after budget finalization, and required a special town meeting to act on the proposal.

“I don’t want to call for a special town meeting unless it’s urgent — which the United Ambulance matter was,” Newell said. “If we can prevent having a special town meeting, I would very much prefer that because we’re already starting out with less money than we thought.”

Newell added, “The healthier the overlay that we have, the less risk we have,” she said. “I prefer that the town sets itself up in a position that we don’t run out of essential funds. I don’t want anybody to think we’re going to run out of money because we’re not. But, I don’t want us to get close to that.”

Densmore made a motion to set the mill rate at $7.75 per thousand valuation, which would provide an overlay of $335,682.89.

But, the Board voted 3-2 against it.

Devlin proposed $7.70 with an overlay of $278,201. The motion carried 3-2 with Devlin, Kane and Frank for it, Densmore and Sessions against.

Tax bills were expected to be mailed between Aug. 26 and Aug. 30. 

New property values can be found on the town’s website under “Assessor.”

Questions: Taxpayers can reach out to the town via the website (under Assessor Page, Commitment Book 2024) or the Town Office at 583-2241.