FRENCHVILLE, Maine – Frenchville officials on Wednesday night approved setting the mill rate to 11.9, which reflects a recent revaluation that doubled the town’s value.
Revaluations help communities determine the true market value of its properties. Because these values change over time, and because each property may have increased or decreased its value at a different rate, this will not have a universal impact on property taxes in the community, even though the mill rate represents a significant reduction from last year’s rate of 24.8.
Last year, Town Manager David Cyr said the town’s taxable value was roughly $49 million. After this year’s reval, that number increased to $103.2 million.
After the reval, the town had an appeals process in which property owners could question the new assessments and request adjustments.
Town Manager David Cyr said that taxes will go down for about a third of the town’s residents, stay roughly the same for the other third, and increase significantly for the final third.
Selectmen approved this mill rate after holding a special town meeting at the Frenchville Community Center. The meeting was brief, lasting roughly 15 minutes. About 15 to 20 residents attended and approved three items, including moving the deadline before an 8.5 percent interest charge is applied to property taxes to Jan. 1 of next year.
Cyr said the town had not had a complete revaluation since 1978. The reval and appeals process led to the delay in setting the mill rate and for the tax interest deadline.
Residents also approved the next two questions on the warrant, which each pertained to municipal funding. One question asked if the town would approve borrowing up to $60,000 to pay to rehabilitate manholes along Route 1. The other asked if residents would approve borrowing $20,000 to pay for a study of the town’s wastewater treatment facility’s aeration system.
The $60,000 for Route 1 work coincides with work that Maine DOT is doing in this area. The section begins on Route 1, just east of the Route 162 intersection and includes upgrading 30 sewer manholes.
The $20,000 aeration study item coincides with the town’s efforts to improve its wastewater system. Frenchville is already involved in a project to replace the system’s force main, a 30-year-old pump station, and to remove sludge from an aeration basin. This work is estimated to cost roughly $250,000. Cyr said in September that the town should be able to cover these costs with a combination of leftover U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funds from other municipal projects and funds from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
