PARIS – The Oxford County commissioners have granted the tax abatement requests of a dozen owners of recreational vehicles lodged at a lakeside camping area in Waterford.
Twelve people filed for tax abatements after Waterford changed its tax treatment of RVs last year. The people complained that Waterford had unfairly assessed their property at Keoka Beach Camping Area.
Commissioner David Duguay said Tuesday, “They were asking for an abatement because they felt their personal property was being taxed at a higher amount than it was actually worth, and they thought the town was taxing that personal property based on location.”
Waterford Selectman Whizzer Wheeler said Monday that the town board had decided to take another look at RVs after other lakeside property owners complained that the RVs, which in many cases have been placed year-round on leased parcels, were not taxed fairly.
Wheeler said, “They (the RVs) are year-round. They are like any other summer cottage. They have porches, decks, sheds. They are hooked up to water, sewer, electricity. They have cable television. They are summer homes; they get closed up in the winter like other cottages on lakes.”
He said Waterford did not tax them as much as other year-round homes on owned land are taxed. However, he said it did tax many of them as homes on leased land, taking into consideration their size, age, attached structures and distance from the lake.
Rather than tax the RVs as real estate, Waterford decided to define the structures as personal property because they’re not on purchased sites, a factor that ultimately saved the owners money, Wheeler said.
By state law, mobile homes can be taxed as real estate, and campers as personal property. The state differentiates between campers and mobile homes largely by whether they are affixed to the ground and by their size.
Commission Chairman Steve Merrill said at the meeting, “They have made a decision within the town government to charge it as personal property, but they are valuing it on real estate values, not on personal property values.”
The commissioners decided that the town should tax an RV or camper based on fair market value as set by appraisal publications, unless they are excised, and that the location of a RV or camper should not be used in the assessments.
Richard Capuci, of Wakefield Mass., owns a 1989 Jayco Travel Trailer with an attached screened room at the Keoka campground. His trailer was assessed at $19,800, but he said it was worth just $10,000. In his abatement request, he wrote, “This is a travel trailer in a campground that is open five months a year. This property is not a house on the lake, as they describe.”
William Tryder, of Mirror Lake, N.H., owns a 36-foot RV park model trailer with an attached canopy and screened deck, assessed at $29,360, which he says is worth closer to $22,000. “The value assessed does not account for depreciation and is based partly on location, which we don’t own and should not affect the value of our RV unit.”
Wheeler said Monday that the campers don’t get beat up because they don’t travel on the road, and they sit on lakefront property that gets more valuable by the year.
“Do you know what would happen if someone could get a house on the lake frontage, and then they want the services of the town provides, and then not pay for either of them? Phooey, that’s not fair,” he said.
There were more than 100 structures that received the new tax assessment, Wheeler said, and only a dozen people who decided to protest.
The town can appeal the commissioners’ decision to the Superior Court.
In other news at the commissioners meeting:
• Albert “Jim” Carey announced his retirement after serving as commissioner for 27 years.
• The commissioners approved the hiring of a new student resource officer for Hiram schools, a position funded by a grant.
• A snow-plowing bid for the courts was approved for Bill’s Automotive for $9,950.
• The unorganized territory budget of $428,846 was passed with no changes.
Comments are no longer available on this story