LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted 4-1 Tuesday to set the tax rate at $22.60 per $1,000 of property valuation, which is an increase of $1 from last year.

Selectman Sarah Flagg opposed the vote while Chairman Rodney Heikkinen and Selectmen Nixon Ortiz, Heather Bronish and Jeffrey Bryant approved it.

Prior to the vote, residents voted to use $150,000 from the town’s $1.9 million undesignated fund balance to offset the increase.

A house valued at $100,000 after factoring in the $20,000 Homestead Exemption would see an increase of $100 in its property taxes for 2019-20.

The rate would leave the town an overlay of $35,682. The money would be used for abatements. The amount unspent at the end of the year would go into the town’s undesignated fund balance.

The majority of the rate increase is due to the town’s assessment for Regional School Unit 73 increasing by $247,794, or about 14%, to $2 million.

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In April, voters in Livermore Falls, Livermore and Jay passed a $19.6 million budget for RSU 73, an increase of more than $760,000.

The town’s share of the Androscoggin County budget and the town budget combined reflect an increase of $65,444, with $1,232 of that amount approved by voters to cover an overdraft in the town’s contractual account for 2018-19.

If the town’s share of the school budget did not increase as much as it did, the tax rate was slated to go down, according to information provided by assessing agent Paul Binette of John E. O’Donnell & Associates of New Gloucester.

The increase in the town’s state revenue-sharing is $102,339.

The tax rate has remained steady the past nine years, ranging from $20.80 to $21.60.

Following the selectmen meeting, Town Manager Stephen Gould said the Town Office will be open Wednesday this week but closed Thursday for training with auditors.


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