CAMDEN — Camden’s mil rate has been set at 11.5, an increase over last year's mil rate of 10.5.

A mil rate is the unit used to calculate how much to tax a piece of property to fund municipal, public school and county budgets, all approved by voters at annual town meeting.

A mil is the tax per $1,000 in assessed value. For example, a home with an assessed value of $150,000 and a mil rate of 20 ($20 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value) would pay $3,000 in annual property taxes. 

In 2024, when Camden underwent a revaluation, its total value increased by 44 percent, to $2.4 billion. The mil rate in 2024 subsequently decreased downward by 31 percent. Camden, which is 80 percent residential, had hit the $1 billion valuation mark in 2014. Ten years later, it hit the $2.4 billion mark, and the increases affected just about every piece of property in town. 

This year, the mil rate is increasing by 9.5% over last year. Camden saw modest new construction/parcel split growth of $8,710,953 during the past assessment year (April 1, 2024 –March 31, 2025), according to Camden Assessor Kerry Leichtman, who is now getting tax bills in the mail, with the expectation that they are received by taxpayers next week. 

Budget increases push mil rate up

Camden voters approved a $15,272,620 municipal 2025-2026 budget, as well as expenditures of $236,000 (Article 20) to subsidize the operations of the Camden Snow Bowl and $350,000 (Article 9) to replace the gable end window wall of the Snow Bowl lodge, both expenditures to be raised by taxation. That resulted in a total municipal budget of $15,858,620 for FY 2026.

Those expenditures increased the total town budget by 19 percent over the 2024-2025 $12.9 million budget. Increases were attributed to attributed to insurance costs, information technology, fire and EMS services, and municipal debt for capital equipment purchases and infrastructure replacement.

Camden is to reduce the taxpayer load of the overall budgetary increase with the use of $1.15 million in surplus funds to help pay for them, as well as using $997, 850 in tax increment financing money tp help pay for Camden Opera House improvements and other projects.

Read about the budget in depth, courtesy of a report issued in late February by Town Manager Audra Caler.

The schools (Camden-Rockport K-8 and Camden Hills Regional High School) were again the largest contributor to the need for additional revenues. Their appropriation increased $1,385,919 from last year to this year (9.16%).

At June Town Meeting, Camden voters approved its $5.1 million share of supporting the  $18,504,043 Five Town CSD (Camden Hills Regional High School) budget. Camden's share is $5,166,297, up 12.1 percent, or $559,640, from the 2024-2025 budget.

The CSD budget expenses grew 8 percent above the 2024-2025 budget.

The School Administrative District 28 (Camden-Rockport K-8) 2025-2026 budget is $21,496,178, up $1,135,278, or 5.58 percent, from last year's $20.3 million budget. Camden's share is $11,026,273, up $654,525, or 6.31 percent, from last year's budget.

Knox County's  budget of $14 million increased $274,681 (13.32%), and Camden's share of that increased $692,588 (10.07%). 

The tax dollar split has not changed: 63 cents of every tax dollar goes to the schools; 9 cents of every tax dollar goes to the county; and 29 cents goes to the town, said Leichtman.

"In other words, the tax distribution is 63% for the school budget and 9% for the county budget (Camden's portions), and 28% for the town budget," he said.

Camden Assessor Kerry Leichtman committed taxes Aug. 11. Tax payment due dates have been set as Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, and Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The interest rate on unpaid taxes is 7.5%, and interest starts the day after tax payments are due (Oct. 16, 2025, and April 16, 2026, respectively).

The deadline to request an abatement is Feb. 12, 2026. All property is valued according to its ownership and condition as of April 1, 2025. The valuation ratio has been certified by the state at 100%.

Property owners can expect that tax bills will be arriving in the mail during the week of Aug. 18.