ROCKLAND — The City of Rockland circulated notice of its preliminary reassement numbers from the recent city-wide 2025 revaluation, breaking down the increases according to property classifications. The deadline to request an informal hearing appointment about the new property valuations is June 23.

Property owners have a choice of having an in-person hearing at City Hall or an informal hearing over the phone.

The City said in a June 12 news release: "The 2024 Median Assessed Value across all classifications, including Residential, Commercial, and Industrial, was $179,700. The new median assessed value is $334,500, a 78% increase. The new values encompass all changes for the revaluation, as well as new construction, renovations, etc., since April 1, 2024.

With the increase in valuations, the City anticipates that the mil rate, which determines how much a property owner will pay in taxes to the City, will decrease.

According to the City, residential assessments increased 82 percent, overall. Commercial property assessments increased 28 percent, overall. And industrial property, 23 percent.

"The classification with the largest increase was apartments, which increased by 95 percent," the City said. "The classifications with the smallest increase were vacant residential land and mixed use, which both increased by 51 percent."

Land Values

Neighborhood factors remained the same in all neighborhoods except for the Downtown Residential neighborhood.

The neighborhood for Sunrise Summit, Clayton Lane, and Dodge Mountain was adjusted to a different neighborhood code based on sales.

Site Indexes influence factors were adjusted based on sales, with the Average Ocean View factor increasing the most.

Rockland with Government Vision Solutions to provide revaluation services for the city for the April 1, 2025, assessment date. The City, which spent $310,000 on the revalution, has created a website specifically to present the 2025 revaluation information. The informal hearings are part of the GVS contract. Vision will assist with abatement applications after that.

New assessment notices were mailed to Rockland property owners on June 5 and 6. The notices show the previous year’s assessment and the new assessment, along with how to schedule an appointment for an informal hearing to discuss the property assessment, and where to find more information.

"A revaluation is a redistribution of property taxes based on the value of each property," the City said.

"As a property’s value increases or decreases based on the average, that property’s taxes should also increase or decrease. A revaluation does not increase the amount of revenue the city collects. The city can only collect the revenue needed for the approved City, School, and County budgets. Property owners should not associate the percent increase in their property value with any possible percent increase in their tax bill. The new mil-rate, or the multiplier, will not be set until August but is projected to decrease."

The City's news release continued:

Mil Rate

The mil-rate cannot be set until Commitment. The mil-rate is projected to decrease, but the amount is not determined at this time, as there are many influences on the mil-rate that are not complete until August.

Here is a list of just a few:

• Informal hearings are not complete; therefore, Real Estate assessments are not finalized
• Personal Property accounts are being returned and reconciled
• The City budget has not been approved
• Exemptions are being reviewed
• Properties located in a TIF need to be reconciled and extracted from the taxable valuation, as the valuation and subsequent taxes of those properties above the original assessed value do not get included as revenue to fund the City, School, and County budgets.

Exemptions

All exemptions have been returned to the maximum allowed. This means Homestead Exemptions returned to $25,000, Veterans’ Exemptions returned to $6,000, and the Blind Exemptions returned to $4,000.

Personal Property

Personal property assessments have also been returned to 100%. Apart from increasing the percentage, many fluctuations can happen in the Personal Property Assessments, which is just one factor why the total taxable valuation of the city and subsequently the mil rate. Personal property accounts are still being reconciled.