The City Tax Assessor would like to explain the questions and concerns that the citizens of Calais have regarding their property tax bills this year.

The Assessor corrected to a 24% real estate market adjustment for Calais this year. Due to the unsettled market, adjustments have been required for the past three years to fall within the State of Maine guidelines. Also, as a result, the city valuation has been raised by the State to be in line with the current market. The Calais City Council did not raise the budget to increase taxes this year, therefore, the mil rate must be decreased resulting in a decrease of exemptions (i.e. homestead and veterans).

Also noteworthy, is that the residents who qualified for the Tax Stabilization Program through the State of Maine have unfortunately seen a larger increase in their tax bills. In 2022 the State of Maine Legislature passed a program for senior citizens, called the Property Tax Stabilization Program that essentially would freeze/stabilize the tax bill they had in 2022. The State passed this program with very little guidelines to qualify, meaning if you owned and had a homestead exemption for 10 years in Maine and you were 62 years or older, you qualified for the program. This program was repealed by the State less than a year later.  In 2022, the city had a calculation error causing an under collection of property taxes resulting in an unintended tax break. The citizens that were in this program had the same tax bill in 2023 as they did in 2022, which resulted in 2 years of decreased exemptions, plus the loss of the unintended tax break, both hitting in one year. This was a State implemented program that the city has no control over.

As always, if you have any concerns or questions that have not been answered, please reach out to the city’s assessor; Andrea Walton (207) 454-2521 Ext 1006 or via email assessor@calaismaine.org.