RJD Appraisal has completed its town-wide revaluation of Whitefield for the 2024 tax year, the first such property revaluation since 2009. The revaluation represents a 100% market value assessment of all the property in the town and the mil rate has dropped from 16 down to 10.10 mils. Regarding the revaluation of Clary Lake shore property, the valuation of a 1/2 acre “base lot” which used to be valued at roughly $40,000 now has a valuation of $275,000. The result is that while estimated taxes on many properties in the town have dropped, the estimated taxes on most Clary Lake shorefront properties in Whitefield have risen dramatically, in many cases by more than 200%. This revaluation has created a serious hardship for some Clary Lake shore owners, many of whom are Clary Lake Association members. We have watched helplessly in recent years as the prices paid for shorefront lots on Clary Lake have risen higher and higher, realizing that a property revaluation reflecting those higher prices was bound to happen. And now it has. Mainers are in fact some of the most heavily taxed citizens in the United States. As Benjamin Franklin so aptly said, “Nothin is certain except death and taxes.”

While rising property taxes are not an issue that fits within the Clary Lake Association’s mission statement, we nonetheless sympathize with everyone adversely affected by this property revaluation and acknowledge the difficulty some of you may have holding onto your property.  We also speculate that higher property taxes may impact our ability to fundraise in the future. We encourage affected parties with questions about their property revaluation to contact the Town of Whitefield at 207-549-5175 and make an appointment to meet with an RJD Appraisal representative and discuss their valuation. Town office hours and additional information including property tax maps, tax commitment books, and 2023 property cards can be found on the Town of Whitefield website. The Town office is closed on Wednesdays.

We’d like to offer some hopefully helpful information to those affected by these tax increases.

• The State of Maine offers several programs to help qualified Mainers with property tax relief. Unfortunately, due to changes to the law, the most useful of these programs, the Property Tax Stabilization Program only applies to the property tax year beginning April 1, 2023. There is however a Property Tax Deferral Program which some people may find useful. This sounds a lot like a “reverse mortgage” which may be appropriate for some people.
• There is the Property Tax Fairness Credit which refunds qualified Maine Taxpayers some amount of money they paid out for property tax or rent in the previous year. Don’t forget to take advantage of this program!
• The Homestead Exemption Program. If you live on your land, you may be entitled to a Homestead Exemption of up to $25,000. This is a direct deduction from your property valuation.
• Property Tax Exemptions. There may be some property tax exemptions that you can take advantage of.

The featured image (above) on this post is a picture from the Summer of 2017 back when you couldn’t give property on Clary Lake away.