The Completed Mural by Artist Jared Goulette, a/k/a Wizard of Color. A Portland Resident, Jared is a Graduate of Maine College of Art. The Project was Funded by Portland’s Recreation Department.
The City of Portland’s Assessor’s office announced yesterday that revaluation notices have been sent out as part of the city’s Revaluation Project. Property owners should receive them in the mail throughout the coming days.
The Project has been on-going over the last three years. New values represent 100% of fair market value for April 1, 2021. Now that notices have been sent out, the final phase of the revaluation Project can begin with the informal appeal process. Every property owner has the right to appeal their new valuations directly with Tyler Technologies CLT Appraisal Services, the vendor selected to assist the Assessor’s office in conducting the revaluation.
“While we are pleased to move on to the final phase of this project, we are keenly aware that these new values may come as a surprise to property owners not aware of the changes that have occurred in the Portland real estate market,” said City Assessor Chris Huff. “The informal appeal process is the opportunity for property owners to discuss and review the value and property data. These informal appeals will be conducted remotely by phone and the notices property owners receive outline the website and toll-free number they can use to schedule their appeals, if they choose to request one. This information is also on the Revaluation Page webpage.”
Once all appeals are heard and decided, new property values will be used for the Fiscal Year 2022 tax bills, expected to be mailed in early September. As the overall value of the city has increased approximately 77% due to the revaluation, the tax rate will drop. At this time, the estimated FY 22 tax rate is $13.49, a decrease of $9.82.
“These are still considered ‘preliminary’ values at this time. The exact FY 22 tax rate will be finalized once all appeals are heard, final changes are made and the final taxable valuation set,” said City Assessor Chris Huff. “It’s important to note that the revaluation process does ‘not’ raise new or additional revenues for the city. It redistributes the overall tax burden so each property owner is paying a fair share based on the value of their property. Since the city’s last revaluation process in 2006, most all property values in the city have increased. It is the extent to which your property value increase compares to other properties that determines your actual tax impact.”
In conjunction with the mailed notices, the Assessor’s Office has a new and revamped property search website as it is one of the most visited pages on the city’s website. You can access the website directly at www.portlandassessors.com.
To schedule an informal appeal property owners can go to: https://book.appointment-plus.com/d4nmgk.lg/ or call 1 – 877 – 895 – 9675, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday starting Tuesday, July 6, 2021. All appeal appointments will be scheduled by July 21, 2021. The appeals will be conducted from July 12, 2021 through August 6, 2021.
More than 22,000 notices are being sent. However, not every property owner will receive one in this round of mailings. “Fully exempt parcels, parcels enrolled in one of the State of Maine Valued-in-Use programs (Tree Growth, Open Space, Farmland, etc.) and certain parcels in the TIF program, especially the Affordable Housing TIF program, may not receive a notice in this mailing,” Huff said. “These parcels are still under review and will be finalized shortly..”