By Jennifer Osborn

The percentage is “average” for a service center community, Gardner said.

Tax-exempt properties include those that belong to the city, county and state as well as churches, nonprofit organizations and hospitals.

staff graphic by catherine mckinney

Municipalities with colleges and universities, such as the town of Orono have high percentages of tax-exempt properties, according to Dave Ledew, acting director of the Maine Revenue Service’s property tax division.

The largest non-contributor to the city’s property tax coffers is the city itself, with more than $38 million worth of tax-exempt properties.

Ellsworth’s taxable real estate totals $581,572,250, according to a report Gardner issued for The Ellsworth American.

Of the nearly $600 million in real estate, commercial properties make up only 10 percent of the land parcels. But the commercial properties represent nearly half of the tax base at 43 percent, according to Gardner.

Commercial and residential properties are taxed at the same rate: $17.78 per $1,000 of valuation.

However, because commercial properties tend to have a higher value than residential, the commercial properties have a greater tax assessment, Gardner said.

Ellsworth has room to grow.

The city’s tax-exempt, commercial and residential properties represent roughly 15 percent of Ellsworth’s land mass.

Ellsworth is currently conducting a property revaluation because its ratio of assessed value versus sale price is now at 75 percent, according to Gardner.

State law requires revaluations once a municipality’s ratio hits 70 percent.

The revaluation will affect tax bills beginning in August 2006, said Gardner.

Gardner said the purpose of a revaluation is to establish equity, to more equitably distribute the property tax burden based on valuations.

“Equity, not increase, is the driving force behind revaluations,” Gardner said.

Ellsworth has hired Massachusetts-based Vision Appraisal Technology to conduct the revaluation.

The company’s property inspectors have finished inspecting all of Ellsworth’s lakeside properties and are working on Route 1A to the Bayside Road.

All Vision Appraisal staff carry ID cards and a letter from the city, Gardner said.

The data collectors will knock on the door and ask if it is a convenient time for them to do an interior inspection, Gardner said.

If no one is home, the collectors will leave a card with contact information so another time can be arranged.

Property owners can expect data collectors to walk through the building to look at the condition of the interior and count the number of rooms and bathrooms, Gardner said.

During the valuation phase, each property is compared to comparable properties with similar characteristics, Gardner said.

Then the market values of the improvements are added to the land value that was previously determined. This value is the final estimate for each property.

While data is being collected, appraisers are analyzing recent sales to determine which market factors influenced property sales, said Gardner.

Appraisers will double-check the uniformity and accuracy of information during a field review, after which a “notice of new values” will be sent to each property owner, Gardner said.