Rockport’s mill rate decreases, tax bills to circulate next week
Mon, 08/31/2020 - 4:15am
ROCKPORT — Property owners in Rockport are due to see their 2020-2021 tax bills next week, and the mil rate, after several years of increases, has dropped.
According to Rockport Assessor Kerry Leichtman, the mill rate is $16.81 per $1,000 of valuation. This is down 24 cents from 2019-2020, he said.
A mill rate is the unit used to calculate how much to tax a piece of property to fund the municipal, public school and county budgets, all approved by voters at town meeting.
Last year, the mill rate was $17.05, but this year, courtesy of a variety of factors, the taxes on property have incrementally decreased.
School Administrative District 28’s recalculation of its cost apportionment formula for the Camden and Rockport share of K-8 education costs caused an increase in charges to Camden and decrease to Rockport.
The school appropriation was 4 percent lower than in 2019-2020, a factor that has contributed to decreased mill rate.
Likewise, the lower appropriations of county and town, each 1 percent lower than 2019-2020, and the increase in revenue sharing all combined to lowering the mill rate.
Leichtman said the percentages were rounded, and there had been an accompanying decrease in Rockport’s real estate and personal property taxable values.
In January 2020, the state valuation of Rockport was $966,450,000.
In 2019, it was $989,550,000.
In 2018 it was $920,847,007.
“That's not good and usually causes the mill rate to rise,” Leichtman said. “So despite that, the decreased appropriations plus an increase in revenue sharing all contributed to the lower mill rate.”
In 2019, a home assessed in Rockport at $250,000 was presented last year with a $4,262.50 tax bill. This year, the tax bill will be approximately $4,202.50
In 2018, Rockport’s mill rate increased by 9 percent. In 2017, the mill rate was 14.75; in 2018 it was 16.08.
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