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Assessing Department - General FAQs

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1. What is the difference between assessment year, fiscal year and commitment date?

The assessment year is April 1st of each year as set by state law. The ownership and condition of all property is fixed as of that date each year. Any ownership changes or improvements to the property made after the April 1st date will not change the tax bill. Those changes will be reflected the next April 1st date.

The fiscal year is July 1st thru June 30th. This is the year of the budget approved at the town meeting in June of each year. The tax bills issued in November covers the period of July 1st June 30th.

The commitment date is the date set each year when the Tax Assessor commits the town’s assessment roll to the Tax Collector to allow for the receipt of payment.

2. I purchased my property in June of this year, why is the former owner's name still listed on the tax bill?

In accordance with state statute, we are required to commit property taxes to the owner of record as of April 1st, the state-wide assessment date. The former owner's name is still listed because the sale took place after the date of April 1st.

3. I sold my property in May of this year, why is my name still on the tax bill?

We are required, by law, to commit property taxes to the owner of record as of April 1st. Whoever the owner was on that date, is the name that will appear on the bill. It would be in your best interest to forward this bill to the new owner in a timely manner. While they are now the owners of the property at risk, your name is on the bill and you are responsible for the taxes. We would encourage you to check your closing statement carefully to see how the proration of taxes was handled.

4. I sold my trailer over 8 months ago, the bill is still in my name. What do I do about the taxes?

Mobile homes and travel trailers are considered by law to be chattel. They are not transferred by deed. Therefore, we must rely on either buyers or sellers to provide us with bills of sale on these types of property in a timely manner. State law says that we assess this type of property to the last known owner of record. It would benefit buyers and sellers of these properties to consider prorating the taxes on these units, as you would in a real estate transfer.

5. How is the tax rate established?

The annual budget is set by way of the Town Meeting which occurs in June of each year. The tax rate is calculated by dividing the approved budget amount by the town’s total assessed property value, which is determined by the assessor after the yearly property review is done and new information processed which spans from the spring to the fall of each year.

6. I pulled my trailer out of the campground at the end of the summer, why am I getting a tax bill for July of this year through June of next year?

Mobile homes, campers, travel trailers and park models in Maine are assessed if they are on site as of April 1st of each year. The tax bill for the fiscal year is based on the preceding April 1st. There is nothing in State Law to allow for proration of taxes based on removal of the property. Please keep in mind that the first year your unit was on site in Wells, it was most likely put there after April 1st and you did not receive a tax bill that year.

7. What is market value?

Market value is the most probable price that a property will bring if offered for sale in the open market and sold as an arms-length transaction. A purchase price does not necessarily represent true market value if any special circumstances are involved in the sale.

Special circumstances include, but are not limited to:

• An abutter, or a lease-holder
• Financial duress
• Sale to a family member

Obviously, the more arms-length transactions that an assessor has to work with, the better any adjustments will be as a result.

8. What constitutes an arms-length transaction?

An arms-length transaction is a sale between a willing buyer and seller that isn't affected by any extraneous circumstances that might have caused the purchase price to be adjusted from the standard price. In order to consider sales that aren't arms-length transactions, we would have to rate the level of impact to the price, which would be a speculative task at best.

9. Is my assessed value what you think my house is actually worth?

Your tax assessed value at 100% average ratio is usually within 10% higher or lower than an actual sale might be.

While individual appraisals are opinions of property value based on a specific date and time and for a specific reason (refinancing, estate planning, etc), tax assessment is based on the mass appraisal method which deals with averages of sales in specific areas in a specific time period. Sales occurring after the assessment date are then part of the ongoing inventory of sales that determine when the next revaluation might occur.

10. My property has been on the market for a long time with no offers. Should my value be reduced?

Although the real estate sales market has improved, we are not seeing the excesses of sales that occurred between 8 and 10 years ago.

It does not mean that your property is necessarily listed or assessed too high. If the asking price is reduced enough, someone will buy your property, often times as an investment towards the future.

The worst situation that anyone could find themselves in is where one would have to sell their property.

11. Can the town assess me for more than market value or have a ratio of more than 100%?

The average ratio of 100% is the goal in assessing. If the town drops down below an average of 70% ratio (sales being higher than assessed value) and has a quality rating higher than 20, the state will tell us that it is time for us to consider a revaluation.

This will also happen when the average ratio climbs above 110% and has a quality rating of higher than 20. We have recently undergone the revaluation process which has adjusted values both up and down to a level closer to the desired average ratio of 100%.

12. I purchased my house for $275,000 and you have it assessed at $325,000. Will you reduce my assessment? If I had paid more, would you have increased the assessment?

We would not automatically reduce your assessment if you paid $50,000 less, nor would we automatically increase it if you paid $50,000 more for it. This information would be kept in our inventory of sales to be used at such time that another revaluation would occur.

What we would do is go over the information that we have on your property to make sure that we are assessing it correctly. The law does not allow for spot assessment. Unless a change in a property's land value is made for a specific reason pertaining to that specific property, any standard adjustments would have to be applied to all properties to maintain equity in valuation.

13. Why did my mortgage appraisal come in less than my assessment? Is my tax valuation too high?

A mortgage appraisal is an opinion of value. You probably paid for it, but it wasn’t done for you, it was done for the lending institution. Its purpose is to assess risk.

We like to review the appraisal to make sure that the basic data agrees with what we have on file. We also pay close attention to the comparable sales used in the appraisal, and often develop our own list of comparable sales. At that point, we have already checked our records to see if our information is correct and will then meet with you to discuss the issue.

14. If the Assessor asks to view the interior of my home, do I have to allow them entry?

No, you do not have to let us in. In order to make the process as fair as possible, however, each property should be fairly assessed on what is actually there, and not left to guess or interpretation. If you deny us permission to do an interior inspection, you may lose your right to appeal an assessment based on our estimation.

15. What causes an assessment to change?

Improvements made to your property, and any change in data discovered through inspection or online advertising if your property is listed for sale. In fact, you do not have to make any changes to your property for your value to change. A revaluation or a simple factoring of value will result in a change.

16. When will you do another revaluation?

We keep a close eye on sale prices, doing ratio studies each month as the information is received. A revaluation is typically done when the average ratio falls below 70% or rises above the 110% state guidelines and a solid trend is established.

Now that our cost and depreciation schedules have been rebuilt and updated, it may be possible to make yearly adjustments following the trend of sale value, whether up or down, thereby avoiding steep valuation cliffs where properties increase or decrease dramatically.

17. What if I think my taxes are too high?

The fact that you have a high tax bill is not, in itself, a valid reason for appeal.

The first thing you should do is come into the office or go online and review the information regarding your property to determine if it is cataloged correctly. Equity in assessment can be checked by reviewing other properties in your vicinity to see if they are being assessed using the same standards. The land around you should be assessed as yours is, and if not, there should be a rational explanation as to why it isn’t.

For example, if you have a cape-style home in a subdivision where all lots are somewhat the same size, the assessments are generally similar. What might make them different is the size and quality of the home, or the proximity to a view, for example. You can review sales that have occurred in your area. Another way to analyze the situation would be through an appraisal done for the purpose of disputing a tax assessment.

18. What are my rights and options as a taxpayer?

By state statute, each taxpayer has 185 days from the commitment date to submit an application for abatement. We encourage you to come in and review your property information with us before you file a formal application.

If you do end up filing an application, we have 60 days to respond. If you do not agree with the assessor’s determination, you can file an appeal with the local Board of Assessment Review. If you do not agree with the BAR decision, you can appeal to Superior Court.