AUBURN — The city will likely begin the process of conducting a full revaluation in 2026, with implementation in 2029.

Following a workshop with assessing staff last week, the City Council will be asked in February to begin a request-for-proposal process toward the citywide revaluation, which staff said will be needed due to high sale prices of single-family homes and multifamily buildings.

According to City Assessor Karen Scammon, the city is continuing to see some sales ratios at 50% or even lower, which means some homes are being sold for more than double their assessed value.

On average, single-family homes are selling for $127,000 over assessed value, while multifamily buildings are selling for $178,000 over assessed value.

In September, a house on Hickory Drive with an assessed value of $393,000 sold for $645,000, while a house on Hillside Avenue with an assessed value of $177,600, sold for $299,000.

While the state requires municipalities to maintain a 70% or greater sales ratio, assessors have the discretion to declare a ratio within 10% of the state valuation ratio.

As of July 2023, Auburn’s certified state ratio was 93%, which means that on average, the city is assessing properties at 93% of their full value as assessed by the state.

Assessors said that due to market adjustments, new value and budget factors, the city has been able to keep the property tax rate and certified ratio flat. However, the recent sales data will leave them no choice but to make more market adjustments.

Scammon said the state has estimated Auburn’s ratio is 71% for 2024, and it is projected to drop further for 2025. Dropping below the state’s requirement puts the city at risk for losing its full Homestead Exemption Program and other funding.

“Sales are continuing to escalate,” Deputy Assessor Joseph St. Peter said. “I’d like to think it’s plateaued. But there are more adjustments to come unfortunately.”

The city conducted initial “targeted market adjustments” to mostly single-family homes in 2022, which some residents said led to large increases in property taxes. The city responded with tax relief funding. In 2023, some adjustments were made to multifamily properties.

Scammon said projections show Auburn will likely need to continue yearly adjustments until the full revaluation is complete.

Scammon said this week that the timeline for implementation is only an estimate and is “contingent upon City Council approval, a qualified revaluation company’s availability and the actual time spent on the revaluation process.”

During last week’s workshop, Scammon said that due to the state’s housing market, a lot of communities are either conducting revaluations or in the process of scheduling them.

Scammon said there’s only so many companies available to conduct one for large cities like Auburn. She said if the request for proposal is sent out and a company is selected this year, the revaluation likely won’t start until 2026.

When a revaluation is completed, a municipality normally sees its property tax rate drop due to the large increase in valuation. Residents are generally told to brace for property taxes to increase for about one-third of taxpayers, stay flat for one-third and go down for one-third.

The last full revaluation in Auburn was implemented in 2007.

During the workshop, Councilor Steve Milks questioned the need for more adjustments and a full revaluation. He said taxpayers are “already getting hammered with inflation, and cost increases everywhere.”

“What happens if we don’t do anything?” he asked.

Scammon responded that the city would lose millions in taxable value, see the property tax rate increase and lose exemptions. The further the ratios are apart, the more the city opens itself up to tax abatement claims, she said.

“Right now my vote is no,” Milks said. “I don’t know in the last 50 years if we’ve had an increase in property value like the last three years. This is a freak thing going on. I would hate to see people get whacked in property taxes and then next year, values collapse and it’s too late.”

St. Peter said the department’s goal going forward is to make adjustments on all classes of properties, but that the most adjustments would be needed for single-family and multifamily properties.

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