LEWISTON — City officials proposed to councilors Thursday evening three approaches for implementing the city’s first property revaluation in 38 years.

City Administrator Bryan Kaenrath said the options are to move forward with it immediately, delay it for a year, or phase it in over two or three years. 

The consideration came from conversations between Kaenrath’s office, Mayor Carl Sheline and Chief Assessor William Healey.

Kaenrath said a phased-in approach is an “extremely rare and unusual request” for Tyler Technologies, the firm conducting data collection, sales reviews and modeling valuations. However, it is legal, with some recent successful examples out of Connecticut, Kaenrath said. 

Phasing in the revaluation would involve further expenses because Tyler Technologies would have to investigate how it could be carried out and would require the city to implement software changes, Kaenrath said.

Residential property overall will increase 180% in value, while commercial property will increase 150%, in a year that may see a 6.6% increase in the city budget, Kaenrath said. He also said the original estimation of a $4.4 billion total city value has grown to about $5 billion, lowering the estimated $19 property tax rate by another $2.

As a result, the average home previously valued at $100,000 would increase to about $238,000, Kaenrath said. This would mean an increase in property taxes on that home of about $780 using the new mill rate of just over $17 per $1,000 valuation. For a home previously valued at $150,000, the value would increase to $357,000 and taxes would increase by about $1,200. 

Those figures reflect the proposed 2027 city budget increase of 6.6%, Lewiston’s share of the coming year’s higher county assessment, higher city debt service and the anticipated school budget for 2027.

“If there was a case for a phased-in approach, this would be it,” Kaenrath said. 

Councilors largely supported the idea of a phased approach, but said they want more information on the added costs of implementing it. Councilors Joshua Nagine of Ward 1, Susan Longchamps of Ward 2 and Michael Roy of Ward 4 supported a one-year delay with a three-year phase-in.

“I do think we need to know what the budget is going to be in order to determine if we want to look at a one-year block and then a phased-in approach,” Nagine said. “Ultimately, I don’t have all the information to make that decision, but I’m very glad we can look at a phased-in approach. It’s incredibly important for our folks who live on a fixed income and renters.”

Council President David Chittim of Ward 6 favored an immediate phase-in over three years, citing legal uncertainties around a delayed approach that could see owners of properties that decreased in value or increased less than others under the revaluation continuing to pay more. 

Ward 5 Councilor Chrissy Noble said she wants to gather feedback from her constituents before making a decision on how to proceed.

Sheline said he was in favor of phasing in the revaluation due to the amount of economic stress on Lewiston residents. 

“I think we do need to give … a one-year delay followed by a two- or three-year phase-in,” Sheline said. “It makes some sense to allow residents time to plan.”