Remember Murphy? Mr. Murphy was a consultant hired by the town of Wiscasset to work with Wiscasset's full time assessor to re-evaluate the Town of Wiscasset. Property valuations were not current. The last town wide valuation was conducted in 1998.

The state of Maine requires that towns maintain their real estate valuations. When valuations are not up to date, then items such as the Homestead Exemptions are affected. The work done by Mr. Murphy was questioned by many citizens and the Board of Selectmen. The end result was that the Board of Selectmen reverted to past valuations and asked the citizens and taxpayers in Wiscasset to raise and appropriate $200,000 to have a professional agency conduct a town-wide revaluation.

The monies were raised and a firm called Tyler Technologies was hired. Tyler's agents have visited every residential and commercial property in Wiscasset and are near the conclusion of their work. The next tax bill we receive later this summer/fall will reflect your re-assessed property value.

After the closure of Maine Yankee, the tax burden shifted from the industrial site to the residential/commercial sites throughout Wiscasset. Since the last town-wide revaluation in 1998, there have been inconsistencies in assessed property values. The current full-time town assessor has explained to the Board of Selectmen that the majority of homes that have sold in Wiscasset in the past 14-18 months have sold for 30-70 percent more than their current assessed value. As a component of Tyler's work, all properties in Wiscasset will be appraised at "market value" as of April 1, 2007.

Ask yourself, "What would my home or business sell for as of April 1, 2007?" It doesn't matter when you purchased your home or business or what you paid for it at the time. To be fair to every homeowner and business, all is made level as of April 1, 2007. As an example, if you paid $100,000 for your home and property 10 years ago, and today, the town of Wiscasset has your assessment at $125,000, and your valuation is off by today's "market value" by 60%, then your actual market value would be $200,000.

Assuming the town of Wiscasset's mill rate stays the same, then you can expect an increase in your taxes. The mill rate in Wiscasset over the past two years has been approximately 18 mills ($18 for every $1,000 worth of valuation), Are you aware that without the reserve accounts that have been tapped into for property tax relief our actual mill rate would have been 26 in fiscal year 2006-07?

Why would my taxes go higher?

Because there are homeowners in Wiscasset, myself included, whose properties have been assessed at 100 percent of market value. I built my home in 2003.

When Murphy's valuation was eliminated, properties reverted to the previous year's assessment. One exception was new construction. New homes would be assessed at 100 percent of market value. Last year, when the Board of Selectmen implemented a 20 percent increase in valuation for all homes in Wiscasset due to valuations being so low, homeowners who were at 100 percent valuation were then being taxed at 120 percent of their market valuation.

With Tyler, this inequity will be corrected and all residential and commercial owners will be assessed at 100 percent of market value.

What can I do about higher property taxes?

While the state of Maine struggles with this question and our Legislature has difficulty reaching compromise, what is within our sphere of influence is controlling our local budget.

Ironically, it is interesting that our governor and Legislature enacted LD1 to control property taxes by increasing school funding to 55 percent. They chose to implement the plan over a five-year period.

What can I do locally to control property taxes?

With the implementation of referendum style voting in Wiscasset last year, you can go to the polls on June 12 t and vote, or vote by absentee ballot. All spending articles are placed on the ballot. Become involved. Join the Budget Committee. Go to a few Board of Selectmen's and School Board meetings.

Go to the town of Wiscasset website at www.wiscasset-me.gov. and take a look at the proposed budgets and what is being spent where. Ask questions. All board members are elected by you, and are accountable to you as taxpayers.

Can you provide me with an example of where you believe the town of Wiscasset's spending is out of line with Towns of similar size?

I am a member of the Budget Committee. I speak for myself as one representative and not for the Committee as a whole.

The Budget Committee voted on a motion that I made to reduce the Office of Assessment from $72,947 to $40,000. This motion is reflected in Question #2 and #3 on the upcoming June 12 ballot and election.

When Tyler was hired, I questioned them on whether they provided on-going services to assist towns to maintain 100 percent valuation every year. They explained that they did provide such services. The Board of Selectmen, during a meeting in December, asked Tyler to provide them with a quotation to provide such services. Tyler's quote was for $10,000 to $15,000 annually with additional services at various per diem rates.

They also required that the town of Wiscasset provide some administrative support. In a follow-up email, they explained that they have many towns in Maine that they work with where the town has either a part-time or a full-time assessor. I contacted several towns that Tyler works for with approximately the population and number of parcels as Wiscasset. The towns I contacted were Wilton, Windsor and Woolwich.

I believe that $40,000 can adequately provide the town of Wiscasset with assessing services that would assist us in maintaining 100 percent valuation every year. Moving from a full-time Assessor's Agent to a part-time agent with the assistance of agencies such as Tyler could enable us to avert the situation we are in today.