SKOWHEGAN — The tax rate for the coming year was set Thursday by the Skowhegan Board of Assessors at $18.30 for every $1,000 in property tax valuation, up from $17.15 set last year. The vote Thursday was 3-0. The board signed copies of the tax commitment, and tax bills will go out in about a week.
The 6.7 percent increase means that a family with a home valued at $100,000 will pay $1,830 in property taxes in the coming year, or $115 more than they paid this year.
The total taxable base valuation of the town of Skowhegan is calculated at $953,174,900, the town’s contracted assessor Bill Van Tuinen told the three-member board Thursday afternoon.
Appropriations for the coming year come in at $10.37 million to run the town, $9.47 million as the town’s share of running the school district and $2.55 million as Skowhegan’s share of Somerset County taxes.
Van Tuinen said the total amount to be raised from taxation is about $17.44 million. He said the school district received a small increase in subsidy and the town is getting $401,471 in state revenue sharing to offset taxes, along with $1 million voters agreed to take from surplus at Town Meeting in June.
Van Tuinen said the final tax figures include a $20 million drop in the valuation of the Sappi paper mill, from the current $464.5 million to $444.3 million.
“It’s down $20 million for two reasons,” he said of the Sappi valuation for taxation. “One reason is ongoing depreciation on equipment that’s not already fully depreciated. The other reason is the retirement of equipment that was replaced with new equipment.”
The new equipment, he said, is exempt from taxation because of the provisions of the state business equipment tax exemption law.
A rough estimate of the new numbers shows that Sappi will pay about $8.13 million in taxes in the coming year, or about 47 percent of the total paid to the town.
Sappi had requested a tax abatement of just over $137 million from the town, but the Board of Assessors denied the request, as did the local Board of Assessment Review. If the company chooses, it can appeal the votes to the state Board of Property Tax Review.
Skowhegan Town Manager Christine Almand said the increase in spending on the municipal side of the overall budget was largely a result of initial payments on the town’s sewer bond.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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