Portland Assessments

Yea Gods! I looked up my new "values" or, as George tells it "wealth" and find I am three times as rich today than I was 20 minutes ago before I checked it out. My current $1840 tax bill at a mill rate of abt 26 will become a $3740 bill with a mill rate of 17. Oh Goodie! I am so rich. Lets see, what is the impact per month on my mortgage? From $153 to $312, and increase of $159.Now what did I predict all those many motns ago? I feared my taxes would double. Yep, it did.Now lets see what the tax cap would do for me. A Cap at a mill rate of 10 gives me a bill of $2200, an INCREASE from my already exhorbitant $1840 (3.5 time higher than the rate on my folks/my home in Charleston SC) of $360.BRING ON THE BLASTED CAP, TODAY..RIGHT NOW..GOD KNOWS WE NEED IT!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

How can that be? Didn't Mavadones and friends rave about lowering the town tax rate from 26 mils to 17 mils?What more do you expect them to do?More interesting would be the old town valuation times the old mil rate, vs. the new town valuation times the new mil rate.Mil rate down 35%? I'll bet tax revenue went up 25% or more overall.

The mill rate doesn't tell us much, if anything, about the amount of spending increase. For that, there are other sources and indicators.

James, it isn't much, but Peter Dewitt said in the article today that the mil rate would be $16.00 based on this years budget. I am in the same boat. My taxes will go up 25-30 percent. And that is BEFORE the schools ask for more money and the city takes more from us too!

Jim,Call WGAN at 8:45 879-9426tell them about your situationI love it and it makes the point that was made over and again last Saturday

Jame, bring us all up to speed, what the hell is going on? How can you take a hit like that? Your mill rate is slashed but your taxes take a space shuttle trajectory!! If all this is typical in your area, it's gonna throw gasoline on the Palesky tax cap bonfire.

I understand, Hadley. That was a "tongue in cheek" post. I have seen too many times how the local pols talk of "keeping a lid on the tax rate," and compare it to other communities. Such data is largely irrelevant, as you well know.I have also seen time and time again how the process of revaluation is used to create a windfall increase in the revenue stream, rather than simply "equalizing" the revenue base valuations. I think there should be a law that requires any broad based revaluation to yield a "revenue neutral" result as the immediate effect. Force the locals to increase spending only by increasing the budget and tax rate from that baseline, so they are the perpetrators, not the assessors.

YEAH, THAT MEANS I lose Money to the City. I should just move up to an unorganized township. Maybe my neighborbood should bring back Deering, and leave Portland. Woodfords would still make a good main street.
Go to the Portland Website yourself and see the tax increase at work.You can see a whole street's value in one swoop.http://www.ci.portland.me.us/Thank god, my valuation almost tripled. My taxes will almost double plus some.Bring on the march onto the City Council meeting.. We need to throw the bums out, AND get spending back into check.Goodie me, that means the city will have more money to spend on Liberal projects.EJ[ 04-06-2004: Message edited by: EJ ]

I can't see Portland's problems doing anything but advance the Palesky tax cap. If Palesky and her loyal followers were smart, they would strike while the iron is painfully hot and push for a June vote.
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I am not sure a june vote would bring out the base that the TaxCap people want.I may be wrong though.IMHO, a presidential election year has a higher turn out, would that help or hurt the tax cap vote?EJ

quote:Originally posted by Ray Richardson:
Jim,Call WGAN at 8:45 879-9426tell them about your situationI love it and it makes the point that was made over and again last Saturday

Sorry, got wrapped up in the "work" thing (to pay my taxes) and didn't see this till after 11.I do understand the mill rate is not set. The old number bandied about was 17 but the paper today says 16. It does not really matter as both are excessive. I am afraid a lot of mischief will be hidden in the process before it all settles out. I would not be at all surprised to discover next year, when this kicks in, that the mill rate was not higher than expected today unless we are saved by a cap. :confused:

quote:Originally posted by Starboard:
Jame, bring us all up to speed, what the hell is going on? How can you take a hit like that? Your mill rate is slashed but your taxes take a space shuttle trajectory!! If all this is typical in your area, it's gonna throw gasoline on the Palesky tax cap bonfire.

It is simple. Yesterday I had a home "valued" at $76K (based on the revaluation from the early 1990's). The mill rate is 26.8. Last year I paid $1840 in property taxes. Today, my property is valued at $220K. If I was to pay the current mill rate, I would be paying the city $5896, which they would dearly love to get. Unfortunately for the greedy buggers, the law says they have to change the mill rate as part of the revaluation process (or the revenues would go 81% as a result of the effort and the citizens would tar and feather the city government. The new mill rate for the city was originally projected at 17 but now may be 16. 16 mills on $220K is a new tax bill of $3520 which is a tax increase for my family of $680. If the mill rate is higher, as I expect it to be because the schools are in demanding another big hike in taxes this year, despite drops in enrollment, I fully expect to pay perhaps $1000 more in taxes next year as a result of this "revenue neutral" process.Note, I am not making a dime more at 11:30 than I was making this morning at 7:45 when I looked up the new "wealth" I have.If one is selling a home, this is great news. If one wants to retire in Maine in ones home, this is a disaster. Bring on the cap....now! :o

quote:Originally posted by James:
It is simple. Yesterday I had a home "valued" at $76K (based on the revaluation from the early 1990's). The mill rate is 26.8. Last year I paid $1840 in property taxes. Today, my property is valued at $220K.

James: Do you think that your home has increased in value since 1990 by that much? Where are all the people whose taxes went down by 20/30% because I highly doubt that expenditures increase by that much in a one year period.

quote:Originally posted by Woosta:
James: Do you think that your home has increased in value since 1990 by that much? Where are all the people whose taxes went down by 20/30% because I highly doubt that expenditures increase by that much in a one year period.

Yes I do. The property above mine and the one below (I live in a condo) all sold for way more than I paid only 7 years ago. I do not have a problem with the revaluation figure but with the overall level of greed that such revaluation allows the city. I would bet money that the number of residential property owners who will hav their taxes go way up will be far larger than the 1/3 the city is claiming. In fact, I would give odds it's closer to 2 to one.No, the problem I have is with a system that allows any city to take money at this level. It is simply too much for most people to tolerate.Let me give you a hypothetical.Let's assume I am a well to do retiree making $40K in the same home I now have. I bought this place in 1990 for it's assessed value and have perhaps 16 years left to pay on the mortgage. My mortgage with taxes this year is about $900 a month taking almost a quarter of my pre tax income. I am too old to go back to work but do have enough to remain in my home today. Now comes next years revaluation. Now my tax bill is say $3500. My mortgage goes up to almost $1200 a month, which means I am now paying over a third of my entire pretax income on the home. Lets say the city has a massive case of common sense and simply freezes my taxes for ten years when they next revalue. Say the home doubles in "value" again and the mill does the same thing it will do this time. Why now I am paying well over half my total income on the Mortgage with 6 more years to go to pay it. What if the city does not freeze the tax rate but increases it as they have every year for the last 4? In another decade, I could be paying 3/4 of my total income. What options do I have as a well to do retiree? Selling and leaving my retirement home and going somewhere else.Now lets assume something else. lets assume I am a retiree living on $25K, something closer to the Maine norm. I am taxed out next year.Stealing peoples homes through this process is simply not right.The process in Maine where we have no limit on government growth is not working. Stop the madness and CUT the daylights out of government, tehn cap its growth. :eek:

If the mill rate was cut by a similiar amount, I would be happier. :D

quote:PPH Article: An increase in assessed value won't necessarily translate into a tax increase. According to city officials, about one-third of taxpayers can expect to see an increase, about one-third will see a decrease and one-third will stay the same. Any taxpayer with a value increase of more than 70 percent will see a tax increase when the new values are enforced

I dont live in Portland, but I can understand your frustrations. However, assessing property at their "true" value is the responsibility of the town/city. If the valuation process was done right, houses would have seen yearly increases in assessments, which would have prevented a one-time significant increase in valuation. Property taxes do not have a direct correlation to a person's ability to pay them. Though your income is supposed to determine how much you can spend on a home and thus your yearly property tax, increases in property value from when you purchase the home can lead to problem that James is experiencing. The only way to reduce taxes in Portland is to cut spending. The City of Portland is most likely spending too much money to finance local government activities. This revaluation will now bring local spending to the spot light and residents should push the city to make cuts. Maybe some good can come out of this...

Sounds like a good time for Portland folks to sell, move up No'th, and start revitalizin' the 'other Maine'. :D

Sounds like it is rally time at City Hall - nothing like a good rally to get people to thinking

quote:Originally posted by Tom O:
Sounds like a good time for Portland folks to sell, move up No'th, and start revitalizin' the 'other Maine'. :D

Tom, it's 3 years and my wife and I are out of here, not to the north but to Colorado where they still value freedom. My taxes on identical incomes and identical homes will be cut to a third. That's a lot to save. I hoped to retire here but Maine is simply too greedy. ;)

quote:Originally posted by Ray Richardson:
Sounds like it is rally time at City Hall - nothing like a good rally to get people to thinking

Do I bring the tar or the feathers?? :D

James...check your math. I think that's a $1680 increase, not $680.Have a nice day,Your Portland city carers and feelers.

quote: Sounds like a good time for Portland folks to sell, move up No'th, and start revitalizin' the 'other Maine'.

Don't even think about it :D

quote:Originally posted by Melvin Udall:
James...check your math. I think that's a $1680 increase, not $680.Have a nice day,Your Portland city carers and feelers.

Not my math, just bad typing :(

Amazing... My advice. Move to the L/A area. I nearly tripled the square footage of my house, went from 1/10 of an acre to 2, and said bye-bye to traffic gridlock by moving to Auburn from Portland. I can be in Portland, Brunswick, or Augusta in 30 minutes.

I paid a visit to city hall today. As usual, the assessors office was useless. The questions I asked were too much for them. They " didn't have the information", Cole Layer Trumble has all the information you are looking for. Anyway, with a visit to another office, I was told that the actual mil rate based on the latest approved budget would be between $15.50 and $16.00. I am certainly going to request a hearing to dispute the findings of the company.

ABSOLUTELY!

about 20 grand or 300 dollars in taxes

Our city manager owns two houses, one on Peaks Island. At a meeting tonight, the reval of course was joked about before. The CM had gotten a call from his Peaks neighbor who told him his house is being put on the market. Seems val tripled or more. City Councilor Will Gorham who is a real estate broker and his wife is an appraiser said the compay doesn't undersatnd the portland market.Councilors were comparing there revals. The neighborhood where three city councilors lived seems to be the lowest increase.Steven Scharf
Candidate for State Rep. -- House 119
(Representing Bayside and Parkside)
207-774-9393
SCSMedia@aol.com

quote:Originally posted by MGReilly:
about 20 grand or 300 dollars in taxes

Are you an assessor or have you had it appraised? Or is that just a guess???

It falls within the typical margin of error for government, plus or minus 20,000