MINOT — Local officials set the property tax rate Monday at $9.85, a drop of $6.70 from last year’s $16.55.

After a revaluation, the town’s total taxable value increased from $180 million to $331 million. That change in overall valuation triggered a drop in the tax rate, or the rate per $1,000 of assessed property value.

That means the owner of a property newly assessed at $100,000 will owe $985 in taxes on that property, according to local tax bills that were mailed late July and early August, Town Administrator Danielle Loring said Tuesday.

Taxes are due by Dec. 12.

Selectmen voted Monday to accept $188,000 in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act that was passed through from Androscoggin County for expansion of broadband internet services by Charter Spectrum to the south-central area of town, reaching 114 homes.

The total cost is roughly $338,000, Loring said. Androscoggin County agreed last week to pick up the $188,000 difference that is not covered by the town’s allotment of those federal funds earmarked for the expansion, which totaled $150,000.

Selectmen on Monday adopted a policy that established requirements for recipients of the Boston Post Cane, which is conferred on the municipality’s oldest resident. They agreed, like other towns in the region, a recipient must be at least 90 years old and must have been a resident in that town for at least five consecutive years.

In September, the Boston Post Cane is expected to be passed to Minot resident Martha Bartlett, whose 100th birthday is Sept. 25. The cane and a certificate will be scheduled to be presented to Bartlett at one of the Board of Selectmen meetings in September.

The board also began to discuss the town’s 2023 fiscal year budget earlier than usual because of inflation’s toll on the current fiscal year’s budget, coupled with the recent drop in the tax rate, Loring said.

“We’ve had to either cut some stuff or shift things around in our budget in order to be able to afford them,” she said, citing the cost of road salt, which went up this year from $56 per ton to $87 per ton.

One of the unknown factors is whether the makeup of the Maine Legislature or state executive administration might change, prompting possible impacts on the municipal level, such as alterations to the homestead exemption or municipal revenue sharing, Loring said.

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