LIVERMORE – Town office staff are preparing for a deluge of calls once taxpayers receive new valuations and estimated tax bills.

Assessors plan to mail the notices out Wednesday.

“We expect a lot of people to be surprised with their new value,” said Kurt Schaub, Livermore’s administrative assistant. “After all, the last revaluation was done 16 years ago.”

If people have questions or don’t agree the value is appropriate, Schaub said, they need to call the town office at 897-3207 between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and set up an appointment.

Appointments are part of the process, he said.

“The job is not done until people’s questions are answered,” Schaub said.

Taxpayers should not wait for tax bills to appeal their new values. The time for discussion is now, he said.

“People who wait will be asked to provide a lot more information to justify a change in value,” he said.

The appointments will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, and Wednesday, Aug. 18, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19.

The town hired John E. O’Donnell & Associates of New Gloucester to revalue properties over the last year.

“We are expecting the phone is going to be ringing off the hook,” he said. “And naturally, people are going to come in to conduct regular business,” he said. “We’re asking for patience.”

People working in the Town Office are not assessors and cannot change the values.

Schaub said not even he knows what the estimated tax rate is. He won’t know until the notices are sent out.

But factors include the school system asking for $95,000 more this year and town meeting raising an additional $100,000 for roads, he said.