Small lot assessment, CMP $$ keep mil rate down

LEBANON - Lebanon's property taxes have been set with a mil rate of $15.24, an increase of about 2.3 percent and far lower than the $16 mil rate earlier projected.

The increase was held in check despite losing approximately $4.8 million in assessment due to depreciation on mobile homes, a problem Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson identified earlier this summer.

In one case he cited a 1987 double wide mobile home that had been assessed at $98,000 that saw its assessment drop to just over $46,000 with depreciation properly factored in.

The town, however, gained slightly more than $5 million in assessment due to the expansion project of CMP transmission lines and the substation.

While out assessing, board members also discovered several buildings that had not been identified to be assessed due to a lack of communication between the Codes office and the assessors, including one that had been missed for several years.

Thompson said changes have been made to avoid these issues in the future.

An additional revenue stream was added when selectmen decided to raise the base lot land value (2 acres and under) from $32,000.00 to $35,000.00.

Assessments on additional acreage remain at $1,000.00 per acre.

The minimum lot land value change added $9 million of taxable property, which also helped keep the mil rate in check.

"We are proud to provide a mil rate well below our original projections," Thompson said in an email sent to residents on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the reassessing of waterfront property proved too time consuming, prompting the board to defer that project until next year.

The mil rate is the amount of property tax owners pay per thousand dollars of assessed value. For example, the owner of a home in Lebanon assessed at $100,000 will pay $1,524 this year.

Lebanon residents can expect to receive their fall tax bills sometime next week. The second will be sent out next spring.