Copies of Tax Bills for 2004-2005 tax year up to and including current ones are available on the Finance Officer's Web Page
2007-2008 Tax Year
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 exemtptions 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
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%
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 13, 2005, to file a formal request for abatement.
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.
| 
