By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

NORWAY – Rising demand for real estate is pushing land values way up, and property taxes are going up as well, according to Norway’s tax assessor.

Norway tax assessor Jodi Keniston said she and Town Manager David Holt have set the rate at $18.20 per $1,000 of property valuation, a 20-cent increase that reflects a general upward trend. Last year, the increase was 18 cents, and 19 cents the year before, she said.

Keniston was at Thursday night’s selectmen’s meeting to explain which properties went up in valuation and why. She said rural land that used to sell very cheaply has jumped in price, no matter how remote its location.

More sales in town have also provided her with a greater idea of town values, which have grown.

But the greatest leap in real estate value is lakefront property.

“It’s very difficult because lakefront values have just gone out of sight,” she said. “All the assessors are struggling to try to keep up.”

She mentioned that Thompson Lake properties are equal to Sebago Lake lots a few years ago, and that people are traveling farther north to purchase less costly lake camps. Some properties on Hobbs Pond sold for more than $400,000, she said.

“People who have had their camps for many years and didn’t pay much for them have a hard time reconciling the price now,” Keniston said.

Holt said, “Some of those camps have been in a family for generations and that might change now.”

Keniston said the state has provided some relief by increasing the homestead exemption from $7,000 to $13,000. The exemption is available for primary residences that people have owned for more than a year, Keniston said. People must fill out an application by April 1, 2006, to receive this exemption in their 2006 tax bill, which comes to a savings of $236.60.

Also, tax relief is available to those whose property taxes come to more than 4 percent of their income.

Selectman Leslie Flanders said that property “should be taxed for what it is used for, not what it might be used for in the future.”

The town will send out tax bills on Oct. 1, Holt said.