08/11/2015

Property tax increase for 2016 less than expected

Property taxes will be higher in Cape Elizabeth this year, but not as much as expected.

Town Assessor Matthew Sturgis on Aug. 10, 2015 committed the town tax rate for fiscal 2016 at $16.88 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, 8 cents higher than the rate for 2015, but 24 cents less than predicted when the Town Council adopted the annual budget in May.

The difference is an increase in school subsidy approved by the Legislature, Town Manager Michael McGovern announced at the Aug. 10 Town Council meeting. "When the council adopted the budget one of the paragraphs in the budget was that if there was additional state subsidy, that would go 100 percent to the reduction of taxes," McGovern said during his monthly report.

The state's biennial budget includes $19.5 million more in subsidy to local schools per year. Cape Elizabeth is slated to receive $3.4 million in state subsidy for 2016, an increase of $423,454 over the $2.98 million anticipated back in February.

"The bottom line is the tax rate increase this year - despite the new library, the new debt and all that - is one half of 1 percent, or 8 cents per $1,000," McGovern said.

Taxes on a $300,000 home will increase $24 in fiscal 2016. Without the extra state subsidy the increase would have been $96.