2009-2010 Tax Year $10.302* per thousand
The tax year runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The yearly bill is legally a single obligation but is separated into two payments the first due Nov 15, 2009 and the second May 15, 2010. The tax rate is slightly lower this year as a result of deep municipal budget cuts. The town office is now open only 4 days a week and employee hours and pay have been reduced up to 20%. Unfortunately the school budget wich accounts for at least 80% of your tax bill has remained about the same.
The market is continually changing during these uncertain economic times. A slight downard adjustment was made to the land portion of the assessment for property located away from the water. Shoreside parcels assessment remains approximately the same, although there may be some slight varience due to rounding issues within the assessing program..
In assessing our goal is to have durable equitable assessments that can reasonably stand up over a number of years as the market goes up and down. Despite the land adjustments your assessment may exceed what it could currently bring on the market. That same factor affects every property in town. Regardless of the level of assessment the town has the same bills to pay with the school system accounting for over 80%. As long as those bills need to be paid further across the board lowering of assessments would only result in an increase in the tax rate so we could meet our obligations.
If you feel there are any errors in your assessment please contact us and we will fix them and make any corresponding adjustments in your taxes. If after contacting us you still feel your assessment is unfair you have 185 days from our tax commitment date, Sept 23, 2010 , to file a formal request for abatement.
* Due to computer system rounding your tax may vary very slightly from the .010302 rate. In most cases this amounts to less than one dollar one way or another. The bills are to be paid as issued.
Copies of Tax Bills The Standish Finance Officer's Web page has tax bills from the 2004-2005 tax year up to and including current ones.
2008-2009 Tax Year Mill Rate $10.40 per thousand
In order to satisfy Maine State Requirements so that we may continue to give exemptions at full value, we are factoring up all land and buildings 3% *(+/-). This is an across the board change applied equally to all properties. Because all properties are being treated equally this will have little or no effect on the amount any one pays in taxes. Any increase in taxes is due directly to changes in the School/Country/Town budget. Additionally the most recent annual audit of the Standish Town Assessments by the State of Maine showed a widening gap between the assessment levels on
shore property versus those away from the shore. In order to be fair and narrow that assessment ratio gap all shore land( land only) will be factored up by 2% *(+/-). This change will result in a slight increase in water influenced property's taxes and a slight decrease in those located away from the water. Despite the very slow market as of April 1, 2008, the date assessments are set as of, sales coming in continued to exceed our assessed values. This was particularly true with shore front property. If the slow market continues and we see sales prices consistently falling below assessed values we will adjust our assessments accordingly for the 09-10 Tax Year. * Percentage changes are approximate and may vary slightly due to rounding and programing factors
2007-2008 Tax Year Mill Rate $9.96 per thousand
For the 07-08 tax years all land and buildings will be factored up 4%. This is an across the board change applied equally to all properties. With the municipal budget staying relatively the same this will result in a lowering of the mill rate and will have a slight or no effect on the amount of taxes anyone pays. These updates are in an effort to maintain our assessments at a level where the State of Maine will allow us to give exemptions their full value. Despite the recent slow down in the Real Estate Market, virtually every sale of property in Standish continues to exceed it's assessed value.
2006-2007 Tax Year$9.77 per thousand
In an effort to forestall a future revaluation the Assessor's Office will continue to make annual adjustments to reflect economic conditions. A town wide adjustment of 7%(+ -)** was made across the board on all land and buildings in response to market conditions through 4/01/2006. Since all properties increased by an equal percentage any individual impact from that adjustment will be negligible. However, the budget of the local school system and the county budget increased. The amount of revenue sharing provided by the State of Maine decreased. As a result of those budgetary changes most taxpayers will see in an increase of about 5% in their taxes.
* due to certain limitations in the software there may be some slight variance from the 7%
CHANGES IN HOMESTEAD EXEMPTIONS
For the 2005-2006 tax year the State of Maine has set all homestead exemptions at $13,000 regardless of the value of the your property. Although this appears to be a considerable increase over the prior years exemptions, in fact it is not. The State previously completely funded the homestead exemption. This year they are only funding 1/2. That means that Standish Taxpayers are funding the other half. That 1/2 funding appears to be more smoke and mirrors than any meaningful tax reform.
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