Talk of the Towns 8/10/22: Property Assessment & Taxes in Maine Towns

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Theme music for Talk of the Towns is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: We talk with town representatives from Camden, Orono and Lamoine about how they assess the value of property and how towns arrive at the bill that property owners pay each year. -What sources of revenue do towns in Maine draw on to fund their budgets? -What types of property make up a town’s “tax base’? -How are the values of properties assessed? How does assessment relate to sales prices? -What is the relationship between a town’s budget and property taxes? tax? -Are there forms of relief for property owners, like the homestead exemption? (homestead exemption, etc) -What happens when a property owner disputes the assessed value of their property? Guest/s: Caitlin Thompson, Deputy Assessor, Town of Camden Marc Perry, Downeast Assessing Services Stu Marckoon, Town of Lamoine About the host: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.