Why a revaluation?

There has been a lot of conversation in the surrounding area around the revaluation of property and Holden is no different.  Revaluations happen for two reasons, the first is time.  Generally, a revaluation is performed every 20 years to make sure assessments are up to date and Holden’s last revaluation was performed in 2006.  The second reason is when the market drives prices completely out of whack as we are all seeing with many home prices in Maine.  Traditionally we are at what is called 100% value, but this year the State of Maine dropped that assessment value to 82% and have projected us to fall next year to 71%.  When we hit 70%, we will lose out on even more funding from the State of Maine and be required to complete a revaluation within 1 year.

These percentages are very important because they determine our level of funding provided by the State of Maine.  100% assessments mean we get 100% of our funding.  This year for example every resident that qualified for a Homestead Exemption only received $20,500 at 82% or of the potential $25,000 at 100%.  Performing a revaluation will bring every property up to current values and in essence will create a tax equalization effort across all properties within the community.

Towns in the State of Maine are all in a relatively similar situation, because of that we are looking to take a proactive approach by engaging with a third-party Assessment Services company that can conduct a revaluation by April 1^st of 2025.  Many firms are currently 3-4 years out on being able to schedule new communities.  That gap would result in a greater loss of funding for our community and a greater gap of accurate assessments for properties in Holden.

On August 28^th, the Holden Town Council will be having a Special Town Council Meeting at the Holden Town Office at 6 p.m.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out and contact us at 843-5151.