Millard Billings is the Tax Assessor for the Town of Holden. Mr. Billings is responsible for determining the assessed value of real estate and personal property in Holden subject to taxation as of April 1st each year. The assessments are used in the calculation of property taxes, which are collected biannually and fund municipal services.

Mr. Billings assists residents and property owners with property tax related issues. Additional resources such as maps and tax cards (historical ownership and assessment information) are available at the Town of Holden to aid in inquiries.

Revaluation

Over the past 9 months there has been a great deal of conversation, public meetings, as well as questioned asked and answered regarding the upcoming revaluation.  This week we will begin our process of the Town wide revaluation for Holden.  Each of the 2,053 parcels will be visited, sketched property cards updated, residential/commercial cost files will be updated, new land schedules using appropriate methods will be created, we will establish new depreciation schedules, perform sales ratio studies, and establish a system for performing reviews/inspections of 25% of the properties in Holden on an annual basis.  Many residents have already received mailers and the rest should be delivered shortly.  We have partnered with Josh Berry and his team from RCS Assessment Services, Inc. to conduct the revaluation. 

As the process moves forward there will ample opportunity to ask questions, meet with staff, and gain a better understanding of the process for all residents.  For more information on the process please email us at info@rcsassessment.com (best method) or Call 207-605-0080 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

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 1st 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.