FARMINGTON – All towns but Avon and Jay will see an increase in their share of Franklin County taxes.
Commissioners set the 2006 tax rate at $1.10 per $1,000 valuation Tuesday, down from $1.17 last year to help cover a $4.4 million budget approved in December.
Commissioners approved a county assessment of $3.6 million and $22,977 in overlay.
The unorganized townships were valued by the state at $171.3 million and, as a whole, were assessed $188,430 for county taxes.
Though the tax rate dropped 7 cents, tax assessments rose for the most part due to higher state valuations.
All but Temple saw an increase in valuation.
Overall, the state value of Franklin County including unorganized townships is nearly $3.3 billion.
Carrabassett Valley saw the highest increase in its share of taxes to the county at $43,388, followed by Rangeley at an increase of $37,314 and then Rangeley Plantation at an increase of $33,344.
Carrabassett Valley also saw a $60 million increase in its state valuation.
“We picked up about $15 million in new construction out of the $60 million valuation increase,” Carrabassett Valley Town Manager Dave Cota said Tuesday.
The rest of the $45 million was an increase in real estate property value, he said.
County tax is based on 100 percent state valuation, he said.
Cota said he wasn’t surprised that the town’s share of the county tax increased, but it doesn’t necessarily mean “we’re happy about it. That’s how the formula works.”
Jay Town Manager Ruth Marden said Tuesday she was pleased the town’s share of the county tax dropped.
The town’s share continuously increased for many years.
Jay’s 2006 assessment of $935,715 shows a decrease of $19,181 from last year, even though the town’s state valuation increased $34.5 million to $850.65 million.
“I guess it’s to be expected,” Farmington Town Manager Richard Davis said of a $10,258 increase in the town’s share of county taxes. “It’s costing more to run the county just as it is to run the municipalities and our own individual households.”
The tax bills are due Sept. 1, county Clerk Julie Magoon said Tuesday.
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