“Correction: Property tax statements” plus 3 more

Correction: Property tax statements
Greenville property tax rate remains the same as last year
Property tax assessment freeze for seniors will keep them at home longer - Alward
Error on property tax bills inflates apparent increase over 2009

Posted: 18 Sep 2010 06:05 AM PDT

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Property tax statements: To pay property taxes by phone, call 1-877-778-4606. A processing fee applies. A Sept. 16 story on Page C1 did not contain the correct phone number for paying taxes by phone.

It is The Columbian's policy to correct errors. Call Mary Ricks at 360-735-4550.

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Greenville property tax rate remains the same as last year

Posted: 17 Sep 2010 10:10 PM PDT

GREENVILLE, Maine — Greenville property owners will receive their tax bills next week which will reflect the same mill rate as last year.

Selectmen on Wednesday voted to set the mill rate at $11.50 per $1,000 of property value.

"'We had enough growth in new construction to offset the very modest increase that we had predicted [in the mill rate] at town meeting," Greenville Town Manager John Simko said Friday.

Town officials in June had predicted the town would need a mill rate of $11.62 per $1,000 valuation based on a flat valuation, as a worst-case scenario, according to Simko.

The town, however, has added about $6 million in new value. Of that, about $4.5 million came from new growth, mostly around Moosehead Lake, and the rest from the Maine Legislature's change in the Homestead Exemption, Simko said.

The Legislature reduced the Homestead Exemption from $13,000 to $10,000, half of which is reimbursed to municipalities and the other half is made up by the towns through the valuation, Simko explained.

Despite the same mill rate, Simko said those residents who receive a Homestead Exemption will see an increase of $34.50 because of the state change.

Simko said the town's mill rate has remained pretty stable over the past five years. The tax rate remained at $10.60 for two years, increased to $11.20, and since has remained at $11.50.

"'That means the mill rate has only grown by 90 cents [over five years]," he said. "'So we haven't gone up, increased or changed by a full mill as yet, which I think is exceptional," Simko said.

Property tax assessment freeze for seniors will keep them at home longer - Alward

Posted: 18 Sep 2010 02:07 AM PDT

By ADAM HURAS
Canadaeast News Service

Tory Leader David Alward says his party's plan to freeze property tax assessments for seniors will help maintain a tax base for municipalities.

Alward said Friday that there's no flexibility to the plan for a permanent freeze on assessments for homeowners over the age of 65.

"It was a sound public-policy decision that we made because when we look at the demographic challenges that we have, our society is growing older," Alward said.

"Nursing home beds are very important and we support the work that has started on ensuring that we have the nursing home beds in New Brunswick that we need, but if your only vision for New Brunswick is nursing homes then we're going to fail our seniors.

"We need to ensure that our seniors are able to live in their homes longer."

The Liberals charge that a Tory plan to freeze property tax assessments for homeowners over the age of 65 will drastically diminish the primary source of revenue for New Brunswick municipalities.

Liberal Leader Shawn Graham said Friday that the Tory plan will also unnecessarily help seniors who aren't in need of financial help.

"We have brought forward many targeted programs for those who need help with property taxes and that is the difference between the Liberal and Progressive Conservative party approach," Graham said.

"They are using a shotgun approach while we are using a targeted approach.

"The program that he is proposing is going to create many inequities within the system."

Several mayors expressed concerns over both the Tory and Liberal plans to cap property assessments without a clear indication of where lost revenues would recouped.

"Both of the major parties, in their effort to be elected, the promises that are being made with the taxpayers' money in a situation where there is so much deficit, it's almost incomprehensible how they can do that," said Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside.

"We don't like tax assessment freezes.

"All of our money comes from those taxes and we still have to provide services."

Alward has also introduced a proposal to cap increases in property assessments at three per cent for the next two years while he looks for a long-term solution to rising property taxes.

The Liberals have promised to freeze property tax assessments for two years in efforts to also search out a concrete solution.

Alward said that he recognizes that the move will cut into municipal revenues and has pledged to address the problem.

"I assure them that they will be at the table as we work forward on long-term solutions," he said.

Alward said the Jean-Guy Finn report that was shelved by the Liberals would be back on the table if a Progressive Conservative government is elected into power.

The 2008 report urged the province to overhaul local governance in order to make services more cost effective.

Graham said Friday that he doesn't have plans to revisit the report in the near future.

"This recession has not ended yet, we are still seeing communities that have been impacted and that will remain our No. 1 priority," Graham said.

"Over the next four years we're going to be laser-focused on making the necessary investments to return to balanced budgets so the $90 million price tag associated with the Finn report would be very difficult for us to obtain that balanced budget over that four-year period."

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Error on property tax bills inflates apparent increase over 2009

Posted: 18 Sep 2010 04:32 AM PDT

More than 17,000 property tax bills mailed to Story County residents in Ames and Huxley listed incorrect tax histories that inflated the apparent increase over 2009 payments, Story County Treasurer Dave Jamison said Wednesday.

"The error occurred in the levy rate for the prior year data, the comparison," Jamison said. "So it had no impact on the current year taxes or levy rates, but it did lead to a false impression of the amount of the increase."

Property tax statements for Ames used a levy rate of $30.05 per $1,000 valuation for 2009 instead of $31.68, giving the appearance of an 8.5 percent property tax increase instead of the actual 2.9 percent increase.

For Huxley, the statements used a levy rate of $39.27 per $1,000 valuation, showing a 4 percent tax increase instead of the actual 1 percent increase.

Calculated tax payments, due by Sept. 30, were not affected by the data error.

"The root of the problem is we've got kind of a jumbled-up mess for real estate software," Jamison said. "I've been advocating for years to get off our current setup, and we're doing that next year."

Jamison said a clerk in his office discovered the error during the week of Aug. 1. He sent a memo to taxing authorities, including the city of Ames, on Aug. 25.

"I told them it was my intention to not do anything further in terms of notifying the public, or sending mailers out," Jamison said. "I left it open to them that if they thought that would be helpful to their citizens, we could certainly look at that. But with nearly everything involved, there's some kind of expense."

Reprinting and mailing the 17,172 erroneous statement, just under half of those mailed out in the county, would cost about $8,400, he said.

Ames Finance Director Duane Pitcher said he e-mailed Jamison after Ames City Councilman Peter Orazem talked to him about a letter to the editor from Erik Charter, of Huxley, in the Sunday, Aug. 1, edition of The Tribune.

Pitcher said he wrote to Jamison that the city received complaints and asked if Jamison planned to mail residents about the error.

"We felt like the notice should come from him," Pitcher said.

He received Jamison's Aug. 25 memo in response.

"We were waiting for something else," Orazem said Wednesday. "I informed the other City Council people about two weeks ago that if this is all we're going to get, at the next meeting I'm going to make a statement."

Orazem, who is elected at-large, addressed the error during the comments period of Tuesday's council meeting.

"I thought the public was owed an explanation," he said. "We're public servants, even if you think it's a minor problem, you say a mistake was done and here is the nature of the mistake."

Orazem said he wished the error was handled differently.

"We get a lot of money from the public, they need to trust what we're doing," he said.

Jamison said, "We understand that any error on the tax statement draws into question the credibility of all data on the tax statement, so we take this very serious, and we'll do everything we can to make sure these errors do not happen in the future."

Jennifer Meyer can be reached at (515) 663-6918 or jmeyer@amestrib.com.

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Property Tax

Saturday, September 18, 2010