WATERFORD – Owners of shorefront properties will see an increase in their taxes this year, but not as high as they would be if assessments were based on full market value.
At an informational meeting Monday, Selectman Whizzer Wheeler told a small group of residents that actual sales over the past three years have been far higher than assessed values. He read off a list of sales of improved house lots and their assessed values. The most significant discrepancy was a property assessed at $60,000 that sold for $219,000.
The average selling price for lots on Bear and McWain ponds and Keoka Lake was between $1,200 and $1,400 per foot of water frontage above the prices for properties not on the waterfront.
“If we assessed at that value of $1,300 [per foot of waterfront], you would all leave,” Wheeler said. The increase would have been 150 percent above the shore land adjustment used since the 1992 revaluation.
“We can’t do that,” Wheeler said. “We can’t do it all in one year.” Selectmen agreed to raise the additional value for shore land properties on the “big three” bodies of water by 125 percent, which Wheeler pointed out is still “considerably below real market value.”
The 125 percent increase means that properties on Bear, McWain and Keoka will be assessed at $900 per foot for up to 200 feet of water frontage, $700 per foot for 201 to 600 feet, and $350 per foot for more than 600 feet of frontage. Properties on other bodies of water will also see increases, though not as drastic. These figures are in addition to the value for the house lot and additional acreage. Completed house lots anywhere in the town will be assessed at $30,000 for the first acre, and $600 for each additional acre. These figures are a 50 percent increase from last year’s figures of $20,000 and $400.
Wheeler explained that the assessed values had to go up “to satisfy the state.” The town’s valuation had fallen below 80 percent of the state’s value for the town, which would have caused it to lose state funding. As Wheeler put it, “If you aren’t at 80 percent or above, you get dinged in all sorts of ways.”
With the changes made this year, Waterford’s assessment is now at 81 percent of the state’s figure. The increases in property values raised the town’s assessment from $129 million to $161 million. The town’s total budget for the year, however, is down $18,000 from last year. The result is a lower tax rate of $11.25 per $1,000 of value, down from $14.25 last year.
Whether property owners see a lower tax bill because of that lower tax rate depends on whether they live on the water.
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