LIVERMORE – Town officials have met their goal of delivering tax relief to property owners, Livermore Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub said Tuesday.
Selectpersons voted Monday to lower the tax rate to $13.80 per $1,000 of property for 2005-06, a decrease of 30 cents per $1,000 from last year.
That means that after factoring in the homestead exemption, a homeowner with a primary residence in Livermore valued at $100,000 will see a decrease in taxes from $1,311 last year to $1,201 this year, a difference of $110, Schaub said Tuesday.
Schaub attributed the lower rate to conservative municipal spending, the county tax rate’s slight drop and a lower assessment from SAD 36, along with increases in state revenue sharing and state road funding.
Selectpersons set the rate after considering several options, he said. The minimum tax rate allowed was $13.48 and the maximum was $14.15.
Schaub said he was comfortable with both rates considered, $13.80 and $13.75. The higher rate gives the town nearly $46,792 in overlay, he said. The lower rate would have amounted to $39,414 in overlay.
A town uses overlay in a variety of ways, including tax abatements and building up the town’s surplus account.
The town’s auditors recommend having between two to three months of operating costs in undesignated surplus, and Livermore is within that number, Schaub said.
Last year, the town had $372,486 in surplus, he said. The amount will appear higher this year, Schaub said, because voters approved taking $150,000 from surplus in May 2004 for drainage work on Sanders Road and then approved money at the June 2004 town meeting to replenish the account.
Schaub estimated there is about $500,000 in surplus.
The town’s appropriations for 2005-06 total about $2.6 million. Of that amount, $142,350 will be for Androscoggin County taxes, $885,893 for municipal operations and $1.58 million for school and education.
After factoring in $196,624 in state revenue sharing and $425,693 in other anticipated revenue, the amount needed to be raised by property taxes is nearly $2 million.
In other business, Schaub said he has submitted a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant application to fix a flood-prone area on Turkey Lane, not too far from Route 108.
There used to be a bridge at the site, but it washed out.
The amount sought is roughly $137,000, with the town responsible for a match of 25 percent, Schaub said.
The project proposes a twin pipe arch culvert about 10 feet across and 6 feet high, Schaub said, and proposes that the road be raised. If the application is approved and no more engineering is required, the grant amount could be reduced, he said.
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