TURNER – Selectmen voted Tuesday to set the property tax rate at $11.40 per $1,000 of assessed value, the same as fiscal year 2021-22 that ended in June.

While some selectmen wanted a slightly higher tax rate so the town could more aggressively build its fund balance, no one on the board was “particularly adamant about it,” and the majority voted to approve the tax rate, Town Manager Kurt Schaub said Wednesday.

He was unable to recall which selectmen wanted the higher tax rate because he said he was going back and forth between the meeting and his office during the discussion. Town Clerk Rebecca Alaire, who records the meeting minutes, was out of the office Wednesday.

The discussion “reflected their concern about wanting to reserve for future impact if something significant were to happen with the egg farm,” Schaub said.

Schaub was referring to Hillandale Farms, the former DeCoster Egg Farm, on Plains Road. Once New England’s largest egg producer, the farm is the town’s single-largest taxpayer, Schaub said in 2021.

In September 2021, Hillandale laid off an undisclosed number of workers and closed at least one of its plants.

“What it has to do with, to our knowledge anyway, is the apparent increase in demand for cage-free eggs versus the type of operation that that farm is set up for,” Schaub said last year. “We have heard some rumor that they could be exiting Maine. We have expressed an interest in speaking with them about what the future might hold for the site but have not set up anything concrete as of yet.”

On Wednesday, Schaub  said the major concern was the town’s inability to contact anyone from Hillandale to assess the property during last year’s revaluation.

“This is really from our understanding more than anything because when we did the revaluation there were several attempts made for our assessors to be allowed to go, you know, review the buildings, which is what we would do anywhere else,” he said.

There wasn’t anyone at the farm who had the authority to allow assessors onto the property, from Schaub’s understanding. Hillandale said they would send someone over from their headquarters in Connecticut to meet an assessor but never followed through, according to Schaub.

“Unfortunately, they never connected and, on that front, we have not heard from them since. I’m going to say it was like November, December, somewhere in that area. And so, if they’re willing to have their property assessed the same as anyone else then we’re certainly willing to provide that opportunity.”

The town’s primary concern regarding Hillandale’s assessed value is if the company files for an abatement, which means the property owner thinks that the town has overvalued their property.

“But unless we’re given the opportunity to assess a fair market value the same as we have every other property in town, then we really don’t even have a starting point,” Schaub said.

He said the assessed value of Hillandale’s property will remain the same as last year.

According to Turner’s tax books from the 2021-22 fiscal year, Hillandale owed a total of $371,310.43 in taxes to the town.

The Connecticut-based company owned about 1,756 acres across 25 parcels that had a total net assessed value of $31.4 million.

The company’s machinery, which is considered personal property and taxed at the same rate as real estate (land and buildings), was valued at $1.2 million.

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