Property Tax Increases (portland) and Political Spin

Those of us who are not out of tune, know that portland just mailed tax valuations out to property owners.Stories talk about how about %30 of the tax payers saw no projected change in TAX when the new assesments take effect.Well, I challenge that figure: On the following:1. Look at the numbers more closely, and a large % of those whose value did not go up was because they lived in property that was either Newly Build, (EG recently Assesed) so their valuation is close to "market"2. Live in a condo or other type of dewling that did not skyrocket in value or were made from a property that was recently changed to a condo and there by recently assessed.I am probally going to purchase a copy of the datebase from city hall, but it would be fun to run reports of revaluations, to determine the year the homes were build vs assesment.So take it with a grain of salt when the city claims that taxes will not be going up.The feeling from the weekend is many are motivated, and this will be an interesting poltical season.EJ

You are reading the staement incorrectly. What the have been saying is that 30% of taxpayers will not see their tax burden increase, not that their values did not increase. As you note those recently built or condozied you will not see an increase, because that increase would have been taken before the numbers you would be comparing.I would save my money if you are aquiring the data for that purpose. Steven Scharf
Candidate for State Rep. -- House 119
(Representing Bayside and Parkside)
207-774-9393
SCSMedia@aol.com

quote:Originally posted by Steven Scharf:
...I would save my money if you are aquiring the data for that purpose...

Hi Steven... when I do a search on the Portland Assessor's site I can find properties owned by the Portland Housing Authority. But when I downloaded the 2003 pdf Data Base, they are not listed. Do you have any idea what's going on?Plus, a few days ago there was revaluation search option. Now it seems to have vanished. Maybe I've the wrong URL?Bottom line, it seems to me that one should be able to download both the 2003 and the revaluation databases.Thanks... bp

I live in a Condo by the University. My assessed value went up 187%. If we have a mill rate of 16-17, my taxes paid will go up over $1000.It is why we are voting for the cap and also why we plan to flee Maine when we retire in a few years. The level of greed in Maine is simply too high to take.Nothing but a cap will change the Portland dynamic. Too many people with theri hands out and too many others willing to dip into my pocket to asuage their liberal consciences.

Steven S Wrote "What the have been saying is that 30% of taxpayers will not see their tax burden increase, not that their values did not increase."I was unclear, but that is one of the points I was really trying to make. My AM cafine had not kicked in yet.The SPIN, that 30% should not see a TAX increase is really just spin, because many of those people had their values established for the first time.James: I am sorry about that % increase, that really is not good. Recent trend in Portland has been to turn apartments into Condos, much like in NY. That triggers a revaluation, as well as shrinks the rental market.My prediction, many people are going to sell, and the property value will plunge.Well, maybe not that much since there are banks with virtually free money to loan. (for those with credit).EJ

EJ, the problem is not with the "value" of the home but with the greed of the city. If they did not spend like Holywood trophy wives, the mill rate would be reflective of incomes actually earned in the city and no one would be in any danger of being taxed out.I can handle even this level of greed but I could never, ever retire here with the city stealing so much and showing no sign of ever stopping. I need a family income well above my retirement income to afford these taxes.As I have NO desire to work for an extra decade so some city bureaucrat/politician can use my money to buy votes, I will simply leave when I can.Let the progressives pay the bills. They deserve it. :confused:[ 04-12-2004: Message edited by: James ]

I actually forgot a second point. Not all taxpayers are home owners. The majority of the taxpayers who will see tax bill decrease are business whose value did not increase as much as others. I think you will be hard pressed to find anyone whose value actually decreased.Bill, as to your question the pdf only shows the mailng address of the property which in Portland Housing Authorty's ("PHA") case would be 14 Baxter Blvd. You would need to know the CBL # of the property which you can get by doing and address look up, but then you would have all of the details. I m not quite sure of the usefulmness of the pdf. If I could find a powerful enuogh computer to do some conversions on it, I would be able to do some proper anaylsis. It choked on my computer.The pdf is missing the street address and the property type. Also the PPH pointed out that the Cole Layer Trimble did not do reval figures for the tax exempt proerties. PHA I assume falls into that category.The city was going to handle those (how convienent that they will be able to low ball them).I have not looked at the database in the last couple of days, so I don't know what you are referring to.Steven Scharf
Candidate for State Rep. -- House 119
(Representing Bayside and Parkside)
207-774-9393
[ 04-12-2004: Message edited by: Steven Scharf ]

http://www.portlandassessor.com/ takes you to active databasehttp://www.portlandassessor.com/cltvalues.htm takes you to CLT.Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com

City owned property values will likely be low-balled to keep the total valuation down. I think total valuation is one determinant of state aid. Tricky, ain't it?

quote:Originally posted by Steven Scharf:
http://www.portlandassessor.com/ takes you to active databasehttp://www.portlandassessor.com/cltvalues.htm takes you to CLT.Steven Scharf

Thank you... I had simply lost it.