Throughout the summer of 2002, our Assessor and our office staff have worked on a three-year sales ratio study.This study was accomplished by reviewing the actual sales (as recorded at the Piscataquis County Registry of Deeds) of properties in Greenville, and recording those actual sales on a set of current tax maps.The tax maps depict neighborhood areas which have certain common characteristics.These neighborhoods are given base land values.As sales go up or down, these land values were reconsidered and adjusted to be more in line with actual sales.

The results of this study showed that some properties are severely undervalued as compared to actual sales.Typically, shorefront property has been the most undervalued.Adjustments were made to increase the value of the land along the shore to better reflect actual sales.

Why was this done?This was done to better compensate for the ever-increasing state valuation figure set for the Town of Greenville.The state valuation is an annual calculation done by the State of Maine on all municipalities to sample actual sales from the Registry of Deeds and to calculate an actual value for the total land, buildings, and personal property located within the municipality.It is this value which is used by the State to determine how much funding the municipality receives for its schools.It is also the driving force for how much in county taxes each municipality needs to pay.

Over the past decade or more, there has been a growing gap between the value set by the State and the value set by the Town of Greenville to all of the property in our Town.As the state value has grown, we have seen our educational subsidy decrease, and our county tax increase.These two factors have helped to drive up the cost of total expenditures for the Town of Greenville.By letting our total assessed value fall far below the mark set by the State of Maine, the only avenue left for the Town to meet its obligations (after cutting the budget as much as realistically possible) was to raise the tax rate itself.Therefore, all taxpayers in Greenville have endured a higher rate due in part to the undervaluing of some properties in Town.

The Board of Assessors sought to correct this situation by commissioning the aforementioned three-year sales study and subsequent adjustment of property values.This study and the resulting factoring does not take the place of a full revaluation.Such a door-to-door revaluation of property values still needs to be done, and will be an expensive proposition for the Town.But Maine Revenue Services, the division of State government which oversees municipal tax assessing, will require such a revaluation in the near future.In fact, if the factoring and adjusting which was accomplished this year was not done, the State would not have allowed us to certify our assessed value to the 90-100% accuracy range.Once falling below 90%, the state reduces proportionately our amount of revenue from various sources.For many reasons, the “mini-revaluation” accomplished this year had to be done.

In addition to these adjustments to land values, residential structures were adjusted upward to reflect current trends.Commercial properties appeared to be in-line with recent trends, and therefore were left constant (unless on the shore).For neighborhoods which did not see any significant increase in their land values as measured by recent sales, total property taxes there this year went down.As a side-effect of the increase in the total value of property in Greenville, our mil rate decreased by $2.40 per $1,000 of valuation.Despite the need for many infrastructure improvements and an expected increase in CountyTaxes this year, as well as a decrease in general purpose aid to education (GPA), the Board of Selectmen and I hope to keep the mil rate next very close the rate set this year.In other words, those who saw a large change in their taxes this year should not expect to see such a big change again next year.

This expectation is realistic if you look at the actual mil rates, total assessed value, and state values set each year in Greenville since FY1987-88.Clearly, our situation now is very much like that of FY1990-91, the year after the revaluation of 1990.In this year, the mil rate dropped from $22.50 to $11.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, but the Town’s total assessed value doubled.In that same period, the mil rate dropped to $11.30 for each of the following two years, and did not exceed $15.00 until FY1997-98.Despite the several major infrastructure challenges facing Greenville in the coming years, let’s hope we can do at least as well again.

If you have any questions about your tax value or tax bill, please contact me at the Town Office.If you would like to meet with our assessor to further discuss the value of your particular property, please call to set up an appointment through the Town office.Our assessor will be available October 30 & 31, 2002.Other office hours for the assessor may be set in November if deemed necessary.

Sincerely;

John Simko
Town Manager, Greenville