Sangerville sets $13.82 mill rate

SANGERVILLE — Sangerville officials have set a $13.82 mill rate for 2025.

The mill rate is up by $1.95 over the previous year’s $11.87, Town Manager Brian Mullis said in a July 31 post on the town Facebook page. As a reminder, Mullis wrote the mill rate is based on every $1,000 of valuation, so a property valued at $100,000 would see an increase of $195. Mullis also said tax bills were set to be mailed out on July 31.

The town manager explained there was a series of exhaustive meetings between Sangerville’s assessors agent Josh Morin, Town Clerk Michelle Nichols, Deputy Town Clerk Kelsey Shannon, the select board and himself to arrive at the $13.82 mill rate.

“We had a goal of keeping the mill rate as low as we could, which we believe we achieved,” Mullis wrote. “The reason the mill rate increased was primarily three key areas. 

“The first was at our annual town meeting, on article 23, our citizens voted an extra $219,000 for additional money for paving and road work which we are in the process of utilizing.  I haven’t got a date on the paving yet, but we have all of the prep work done on Maple Street and have most of the prep work on the Line Road done. We have also since last fall worked on almost every dirt road in town, doing ditching, cross culverts and adding gravel. 

“The second area was an increase in the county tax which increased $22,400 over 2024. The third area was the school assessment. This is tricky because the school budget has not passed yet. We felt we had to commit taxes in spite of their budget not passing which required us to estimate the school assessment. The assessment we used was based on the budget that the school board was trying to pass which we felt was the safest option for which to plan. The school budget number we used was approximately $180,000 more than last year’s school budget. If the school district passes a much smaller budget, we will be able to use the extra money to offset potential tax increases next year. 

“Back to the topic of roads, we will be working on the Goff Road the next couple of days, doing ditching and a culvert replacement, so please choose another route if possible.”

Mullis also wrote that he would like to address questions and comments on his Facebook posts, which are written to convey information and perhaps be a bit entertaining. If he sees a direct question then the town manager will do his best to answer it. 

However, Mullis does not want to try to answer complex questions or have debates on social media. He is always willing to have a face-to-face conversation with anyone about any topic of town business if they want to stop by the town office.  

Those who would like to have a discussion in a more public forum with a greater audience and a recording of the conversation are welcome to attend a select board meeting and present their concerns directly to the board.