Milo officials look at options for rising valuation and real estate costs

Assessing
work session
set for Nov. 12

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — In response to citizens’ concerns, town officials are looking at how to cope with a rise in the new state valuation and the resulting impact on the sale of properties. According to a letter to the board of selectmen by Joshua Morin of Hamlin Associates of Parkman, assessor’s agents for Milo, “This year’s combined state valuation is at 123 percent. This tells the town according to state valuation we are assessing the town’s property for more than it is selling for. With this in mind it is time to evaluate the properties to bring them back down to market value, in my mind we have three options to look at.”

    “Our sales ratio has been rising the last few years, meaning our sales have been coming in at over 100 percent for these properties,” Elizabeth Morin of Hamlin Associates said during an Oct. 21 select meeting. She said this increase has “made sales of homes so difficult.”
    In his letter Joshua Morin said the trio of options for bringing properties down to market value. “Number one would be a town-wide factoring of buildings and land,” he wrote. “Something like an economic obsolesces of 15 or 20 percent on buildings and reducing the land after that to reflect market value. This would be the less expensive way for the town but not the best way. In my opinion if we factor down the value, any problems in assessments would be factored and not taken care of.”
    Option No. 2 could be a complete market sales data ratio of buildings and land to get these parcels more in line to market value. “This process would take more time and be more expensive to the town but would reflect better towards market value,” Morin wrote. He said this option would involve a visit of all buildings, to see what structures are new and what is gone, and then revisiting grades and conditions to get values closer to market. “This option would be like doing a full reval without the timely aspect of measuring every building and revisiting all structure measurements in town,” he wrote.
    The last of the three possibilities would be a full revaluation, similar to the two-year process conducted in 2007. Morin wrote a full revaluation “requires a full measurement and listing of buildings and is a lot like the No. 2 option. This would be a full revaluation process but of course is the most expensive option.”
    The town of Milo contracts with Hamlin Associates for its services and the three options would have prices per parcel, $10, $20 and $30 per the options in numerical succession. Based on a parcel total of $1,700 the totals would be $17,000, $34,000 and $51,000 — which can be spread across two years — along with the yearly contract price.
    “Please remember that if a revaluation is done the chance of the mil rate going up is high,” Morin wrote. “If we reduce the values in town the mil rate will go up to reflect those changes and tax bills may not change or even go up.” He added that a conversation with the head of state valuations suggested values be reduced to bring these figures more in line with market values rather than waiting to see if the market adjusts over the ensuing few years.
    “A lot of this has come up lately, everyone’s upset at their tax bill,” Select Chair Lee McMannus said about conversations he has had with residents. He said beyond going with one of the three options, the more long-term solution may be to broaden the tax base or cut town services he said are already at a bare bones level.
    Selectman Bob Ade suggested town officials hold a public meeting on the tax assessment options. “People need to be educated, they need to understand,” he said, saying that even though property values may be reduced the mil rate may increase.
    Ade also mentioned how a large part of tax bills goes toward Milo’s share of the SAD 41 budget. He encouraged citizens to get involved as this spending plan is developed in the months to come.
    The board opted to schedule a public work session with the assessors on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m., with a select meeting to follow. This date differs from the normal meeting schedule of the first and third Tuesdays of the month with Tuesday, Nov. 11 being Veteran’s Day and an informational meeting with AOS 43 and town officials in the school unit communities scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Marion C. Cook School in LaGrange.
    In other business, Town Manager David Maynard said, “I am quite pleased to tell you tomorrow I can send in a request for final approval,” on the Safe Streets and Route 11 projects.
    “Overall I thought it was one of the best jobs I had ever seen,” he said he told the Maine Department of Transportation.
    Maynard said with any large-scale project there are always adjustments that need to be made after the completion. He said four crosswalks have been repainted and two stop signs are being installed on Pleasant Street. Maynard said the concrete work on the sides of the intersections of Pleasant Street with Main and Park streets (Route 11) is not intended to be driven over and travelers are encouraged to make a habit of driving through these intersections properly.
    Some of the driveways along the project route did not receive paved lips or need these edges redone. Maynard said due to an early shutdown of the paving plant in Dover-Foxcroft, how much of this repaving can be done this fall remains up in the air, but the work is still listed to be completed.
    Maynard thanked all who have been involved in fixing up the Safe Streets areas and Route 11. “There is a lot of people in town who had parts in that project,” he said.