SABATTUS — The town has a new tax rate.

In a split vote, selectmen adopted $14.75 as the new mill rate on Tuesday, a roughly 5-percent increase over the current year, according to Town Manager Andrew Gilmore.

A tax bill on a $130,00 house in 2012, with a mill rate of $14 is $1,820. A tax bill for the same house in fiscal 2013 is $1,918 — a $98 difference.

Gilmore said the municipal, school and county budgets all faced increases. Selectmen tapped into a reserve fund to offset the school increase or the rate would have been higher.

The new rate was approved in a 3-1 vote with Chairman Mark Duquette in favor of a $14.70 rate instead and Michelle Ames absent.

The tax rate includes collecting $162,017 to add to the town’s reserve fund. Sabattus ought to have $850,000, or two months’ worth of expenses, on hand for emergencies, Gilmore said.

“Four years ago, it was under $100,000,” he said. Now, it’s about $650,000.

In the current year, Gilmore said it was realized in hindsight that the mill rate should have been $14.40. Officials discovered in November that anticipated revenue from the Homestead Exemption had been double-counted, a human error that left the town budget $115,000 short.

Equipment purchases were delayed, some work put off, and, Gilmore said, other revenue lines came in higher than anticipated.

“We under-spent our budget to make up our gap,” he said. “We ended the year in the black.”

Tax bills with the new rate are scheduled to go out soon with the first half due Sept. 4.

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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