LEWISTON – The city’s property tax rate will drop another nickel by the time tax bills are mailed next month.

The City Council has set the city’s annual tax rate at $27.70 per $1,000 of value. That’s a decrease of $1.19 from last year.

The city began mailing letters to Lewiston taxpayers last week telling them the tax rate would be at least $27.75. City Tax Assessor Joe Grube said that number was an early estimate based on a land-value survey his office conducted last year.

That survey turned up an additional $70 million in property value compared to a year ago.

“And now we’ve located a little additional valuation,” Grube said. “That’s what allowed us to adjust it further.”

City Administrator Jim Bennett praised the council for not increasing property taxes this year.

“Very few cities were able to hold the line and keep their taxes from increasing this year,” Bennett said. “This is a direct benefit of the hard work and tough decisions you made this year.”

In June, councilors adopted the city’s budget with no tax increase, setting the tax rate at $28.89 based on last year’s property values. That budget included some $600,000 in cuts, including staff layoffs. Councilors also agreed to begin charging for trash collections at apartments with four units or more.

Once new growth and the land value survey were figured into the property tax calculations, the rate came down.

The new rate won’t mean lower taxes for everyone, however. Property owners whose land is more valuable will pay more, Grube said.

“I would expect that about 25 percent of our taxpayers will see an increase in their tax bill and about 25 percent will see a decrease,” Grube said. “The other 50 percent should see no change.”

To figure property taxes, subtract the exemptions from the assessed value and multiply by the property tax mill rate: 0.0277. For example, a home worth $80,000 that receives a $6,440 homestead exemption would pay $2,037.61 in property taxes.

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