RUMFORD – About 3,300 property owners will get their annual tax bills in the mail early next week, showing a $1 per $1,000 valuation increase.

Town Manager Jim Doar said the tax rate was set Thursday morning at $18.77 per $1,000 valuation, up from $17.77. That represents a 5.6 percent hike over this year’s rate. It means the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $100 more in taxes.

The tax rate goes toward a $14.5 million municipal, school and county tax budget, up 5.3 percent from the 2005-2006 total budget of $13.78 million.

Doar said most of the increase can be attributed to higher school taxes of about $350,000 and a slightly higher municipal budget, both of which were offset by lower Oxford County taxes, higher town valuation, and fewer initiated articles.

The tax rate is usually set in August; however, this year, more time was needed to assess the Brookfield hydro plant on the falls, said Doar, because only one person in the state is qualified to assess such plants. Its assessment went from $90 million last year to $96 million this year. Also, the assessment of NewPage Corp. increased by $2 million, from about $312 million to $314 million.

The first half of the property bill is due without penalty by Nov. 1. The second half will be due in the spring. People who pay late are subject to 12 percent annual interest.