LEWISTON — Chief assessor William Healey will be conducting a series of public meetings to answer questions about the city’s ongoing revaluation and what it means for people’s taxes.

The two meetings will be held in April via Facebook Live, with two in-person meetings following in May.

A revaluation is the process of updating the value of all residential and commercial properties to reflect current market values, key in determining equitable tax rates across a municipality.

The city had its last revaluation in 1988, meaning many residents will likely see their property values rise significantly to catch up with market value.

The revaluation will also dramatically drop the tax rate from its current $32.78 per $1,000 of property value, though how much depends on both the final total property value for the city and the next budget total. The current projection, at just over $19, is likely lower than what the final number will be, Healey said.

The city contracted Tyler Technologies in 2024 to conduct data collection, sales reviews and modeling valuations. 

New property values will be available to homeowners sometime before the end of April. They will be used to calculate tax bills for fiscal year 2027, which will be sent out in August and due in September.

The meetings will be held 5:30-6:30 p.m. on April 7 and April 21 via the city’s Facebook Live where residents will be able to type questions to submit in real time. In-person meetings will be held 1:30-2:30 p.m. May 11 and 9-10 a.m. May 18 at the Lewiston Armory Senior Center at 65 Central Ave. Residents will be able to ask Healey questions during the meeting.

According to posts by the city of Lewiston, the meetings will address questions like: “Why did my assessment change?”; “What does this mean for my property taxes?”; “How does the city determine value?”; and “What if I don’t like what my property assessment says?”

Healey said while he is making himself available for questions, he does not expect to encounter happy taxpayers, especially in a city that has not had a regular revaluation in 38 years.

One of the largest points he wants the public to know is that the city recognizes that revaluations are stressful to residents.

“It’s just going to be general anger,” Healey said, explaining what he expects to encounter at the meeting. “I’ve dealt with this before and I’ve been to public meetings and it was supposed to be informational. (But) it can get … confrontational.” 

“The most frustrating part of my job is people blaming the revaluation for their tax increase. It is mostly driven by budget increases.”

What is the greatest misconception about revaluations?

While some homeowners may see tax increases, Healey said, revaluations will not necessarily increase taxes dramatically. They also do not supply municipalities with new revenue. 

“ A revaluation is revenue neutral, it is a redistribution of the tax burden,” he said. That’s all it is. In a perfect world, there’s no budget increase, so you can see exactly the impact, but that’s not reality …  We even have some councilors that think the revaluation is going to generate income. It does not. I want the property owners to know that. I think that’s really important.”

When residents get their new valuation notice, what should they look for first?

Healey said homeowners should pay attention to their land and building values and check it against the city’s information which is available online. 

“It could be that we have the bathroom count off or the bedroom count off,” Healey said. “Maybe we have you for a pool that was filled in years ago.”

How were values determined and if someone thinks their value is wrong, what should they do?

Values were determined by information the town has on hand and by a model created by Tyler Technologies.

“Information we had at hand. (Values) were factored by a model that we created, and most values went up significantly, but about 180% for residentials,” Healey said. “Tyler Technologies is going to have five to six weeks of informal hearings and we’re going to offer them electronically, so people can do it by Zoom without having to travel. They’re going to offer some after hours.”

Why are property values increasing so dramatically and how is the tax burden shifting?

Values are greatly increasing because it has been nearly four decades since properties were last valuated, Healey said. Homes and businesses have appreciated significantly after such a long period of time.

Since commercial property values have not risen as much as residential since the last revaluation, there will be a shift of burden from businesses to residential, Healey said. 

“That’s why even if the budgets remained flat, properties that see a larger percentage increase than the average would see a tax increase,” he said.

How should residents think about the relationship between revaluation and the tax rate?

When valuation increases, the tax rate decreases, Healey said. It’s a mathematical equation — ultimately, tax rates are determined by dividing the budget by total taxable value.

“It’s really as simple as we take the budgets and divide it by total taxable value, and that is what establishes the tax rate,” Healey said. “In a perfect world you’d see that if values went up 50%, tax rate drops 50%. But that’s in a perfect world, not reality, because we have costs like contractual obligations for pay raises. The budget is just going to go up.”

What is the biggest ‘don’t’ when looking at your property’s new value?

“Any increase is upsetting, but I want people to understand: please don’t multiply your new value by your old tax,” Healey said. “That’s going to make you very upset.”