Final 2017 Tax Bill Going Up for Many

On October 26, the town announced that the final tax rate for 2017 was $32.11 per $1,000. The previous rate had been $33.86 per $1,000. That's a dip of $1.75 per $1,000, but not enough.

When Avitar Associates reassessed all town properties back in June 2017, many of them increased in value, and many increased by a lot. We had to wait until the end of October to find out whether the NH Dept. of Revenue would set a rate that would counteract the increased assessed values.

Of course they did no such thing. so many homes and properties in town are suffering with a higher tax bill through no fault of their own and with no increase in town services to justify the tax increase.

Here is a breakdown of how each part of the tax rate has changed.

What You Can Do

Attend the next Selectmen's meeting (usually on Mondays at 6:00 p.m. at town hall) and demand that they eliminate the wage increases and other increases built into the 2018 town budgets. With no new businesses apparently coming into town (which would offset residential property taxes), the selectmen need to hear from residents that they must look out for the interests of the taxpayers first and avoid crushing them with 2018 budget increases on top of the tax burden of the increased property assessment.

Attend the next Budget Committee meeting on Thursday November 9th, 16th, or 20th at 6:00 p.m. at the Community Center and demand that they also look out for the interests of the taxpayers by trimming all town budgets as much as possible and by eliminating or postponing large cost items wherever possible.