The tax rate is down, but home values are up in Windham after the town’s first full revaluation of property in nearly a decade.
While most residents will only see a slight increase or decrease in their taxes due to the revaluation, owners of lakefront property are in for a shock when they receive their tax bills next week because many homes on the lakes have doubled in value.
In July, the Windham Town Council voted to drop the town tax rate from $17.80 to $11.40 per thousand of property value.
And on Tuesday, the Windham Town Council voted to lower the tax rate once again, from $11.40 to $11.30, because of a miscalculation in TIF district revenues. This new tax rate means the owner of a house worth $200,000 will receive a property tax bill of $2,260.
The Windham Tax Assessor’s Office, which is now preparing tax bills to be sent out next week, has met with more than a hundred residents since releasing the new values from the revaluation.
The majority of residents with grievances about the new assessments were lakefront homeowners.
“Some people had questions about the process, some had corrections and we had a few errors when we transferred to the new system,” said Windham Tax Assessor David Sawyer.
During the 18-month endeavor to update property values in town under the revaluation, the Windham Tax Assessor’s Office transferred the new values into a new online database that includes detailed information on homes and businesses in Windham.
Outside the Tax Assessor’s Office, a computer has been made available so the public can research their new assessments via this online database. Residents, both at the town office and from their homes, have made use of the online resource to research their properties and look for discrepancies in the assessments.
Jeff Wilkinson, of Pride Lane, believes a partial audit of this new database should be performed to check if the information is correct.
“I do understand that they had to re-balance things,” Wilkinson said of the revaluation. “I’m not saying they didn’t do a good job, but I did see some errors from what I looked at.”
Wilkinson noted that his new assessment listed the wrong number of bedrooms in the house and a basement, which would be “underwater” if it existed, Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson, like other waterfront homeowners on Pride Lane, is upset about the substantial increase in property taxes he’ll have to pay this year.
His home value rose 60 percent due to the revaluation, from $211,000 to $535,100. This will result in a 67-percent increase in his tax bill, he said.
He knew of the tax situation in Maine before he moved from California to Windham last year, but, still, this sharp increase triggered by the steady demand for lakefront property surprised him.
“The major shock to me was that they assess at market value,” Wilkinson said. “Nobody knows what market value is until you go to sell. You can’t legislate market value.”
Mike Tevanian, who owns lakefront property on Sabbady Point Road, saw his house rise 100 percent in value, from $175,000 to $350,000.
His assessment also had a series of errors, including the wrong picture on the assessor’s online database, and he argues that Windham’s revaluation does not reflect the reality of the real estate market.
Expensive homes on Sabbady Point Road have raised the value of surrounding properties, but Tevanian contends that these surrounding properties would not sell on the current market for what they are assessed.
“I’m struggling to get by and yet the taxes are rising,” said Tevanian, who also owns a snowmobile business hit hard by the lack of snow last winter. “Home value needs to be based on what people make for money.”
Sawyer said he and his assessing team did take into account the current “slow down” in the market in the revaluation.
Still, assessments have not declined in the past year, he said, though many have kept at flat value.
Under state law, towns must assess property values at close to real estate market value.
The state constitution dictates that all property values must be assessed equally based on “just value” that is further defined by state law as “fair market value.”
If the average home in a town is assessed at less than 70 percent of market value, then the town must perform a full review of how much homes would sell for on the real estate market.
The average home in Windham was assessed at 61 percent of real estate market value prior to the revaluation.
On average, those assessed at below 61 percent of market value will see a 10 percent increase in their taxes while those assessed above 61 percent will see a 10 percent decrease, Sawyer said.
Tax bills will be sent out this week. Anyone may appeal to the town if they believe their assessment or tax bill is in error.
To check your property assessment and for more information on the revaluation, go online to the “Tax Assessor’s Database” at www.windhamweb.com. Information on tax rebate programs are also available online or at the Tax Assessor’s Office inside the Windham Town Offices off Gray Road.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
