Total appropriations increased 15.7 percent from 2023

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 7:45pm

Lynda Clancy

Rockport Harbor (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

ROCKPORT — Tax bills for Rockport property owners arrived mail boxes last week, a surprise for many given that the bills are usually received later in the summer. But, said Assessor Kerry Leichtman, his office completed its annual task ahead of schedule.

“We got our work done earlier than normal,” he said, July 18.

Leichtman’s office is responsible for setting the annual mil rate. This year, given an overall appropriation increase of 15.7 percent across school, municipal and county budgets, the mil rate was set at 14.25, up from 12.65 in 2023.

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

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.

Rockport’s mil rate has fluctuated over the past decade, and reflects ever-changing factors; in 2006, it was 9.06; in 2003, it was 15.95.

More recently, the mil rate has been:

2023, 12.65

2022, 15.45

2021, 17.05

2020, 16.81

And while the mil rate has increased, so too has the total property valuation of Rockport.

According to Leichtman, Rockport’s total taxable valuation increased by $10 million, from $1,525,038,997 in 2023 to $1,535,415,086 in 2024.

In 2023, it was $1,525,038,997

In 2021, it was $924 million.

In 2020, $966,450,000.

In 2019, it was $989,550,000.

In 2018 it was $920,847,007.

Going back over the decades, in 2001, it was $436,154,800.

Increased property values

In 2021, the median value of a single-family home in Rockport was $277,200.

Then came several years of unparalleled demand for Midcoast real estate, along with rising valuations.

In 2023, the median value of a single-family home in Rockport was $484,000. This year, it is $483.700.

With a 14.25 mil rate, the homeowner with real estate assessed at $483,700 will pay $6,892 in property taxes this year.

The annual reckoning of the mil rate for municipalities is based on various factors, including how much the public schools are spending on education, how much the county is spending on the Sheriff’s Department, jail, 911 dispatch, the county airport in Owls Head, and how much the towns are spending on roads, administrative work, public safety, harbors and other infrastructure.

Currently, of the pie that consumes total property tax collected in Rockport, 59 percent is spent on public education (down from 67 percent in 2021); 34 percent on municipal government (up from 26 percent in 2021); and 7 percent on county (stayed the same as in 2021).

Total appropriations this year have increased 15.7 percent from 2023.

The municipal budget budget is $11.4 million; SAD 28 and Five Town CSD budget assessment for Rockport was $12.5 million; and the Knox County assessment for Rockport was $1.5 million.

The other collectible tax that municipalities levy is on personal property. Personal property taxes are collected on business assets, and include furniture, fixtures, computers, software, machinery and other equipment. The personal property value in 2024 in Rockport is $15,847,900.

Over the past year, there has been a $10 million increase in residential and commercial valuation, said Leichtman.

Ten years ago, that would have been “a decent number,” he said. In these recent years of leaping real estate valuations, the increase of $10 million does not carry the same weight.

“There has been no valuation increase other than improvements people have made,” said Leichtman. “It used to be 10 million was significant, now it is a splash in the bucket.”

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657