MEXICO – People who own land valued at more than their buildings can expect to pay more taxes this year. Those with a building value that’s significantly higher than their land value will see a decrease in taxes.

Here’s why: Unable to afford a town-wide revaluation – something that hasn’t been done since 1992 – selectmen at Wednesday night’s board meeting unanimously agreed to nearly double the value of taxable land to more closely match today’s values.

By agreeing to do this, selectmen gave the go-ahead to assessor Rob Stevens to set a tax rate of $23.65 per $1,000 of valuation, a difference of $4.85 from the past few years’ rate of $28.50.

“It’s something that will keep us in line until we raise the money we need to do a reval in-house,” Stevens said Thursday morning at the town office.

Town Manager John Madigan detailed the process to selectmen Wednesday night, explaining that if the town didn’t increase its land value by 85 percent, it’d get nothing next year in tree growth and homestead exemption reimbursement money from the state.

By more closely matching actual land values, Madigan said the town’s land would be $90,344,000. The state’s valuation is $90,800,000.

“So, this puts us right where we’re supposed to be. It’s a little bit of a tax shift from commercial to residential. A majority of the people will be impacted with a lesser tax bill, but only a minority will see a higher tax bill.

“It affects everybody differently, because it’s only dealing with the land, and, it’s really the land that’s been driving the value up in Mexico,” Madigan said.

By increasing the land value and reducing the tax rate, he said it would still fund Mexico’s overlay and provide $110,000 reimbursement for homestead exemptions.