New Tuftonboro Tax Rate?

[chocophile]

Does anyone know what the new Tuftonboro tax rate is? According to the town's web site, they send out tax bills at the end of October, but we haven't seen anything yet.

(Sorry if this post starts a new property tax war!)

[19MileBaylover]

Hi Chocophile.
Waiting for mine, too. Just got the "corrected" assessment, but not tax bill and no news on the tax rate, yet. Some folks sure got clobbered on the assessments, and I couldn't believe what I had to go through to prove they had incorrectly assessed my property. But the folks at town hall were really nice and cooperative.

[Lake Lady 6]

I can't speak for Tuftonboro but we are still waiting for our new rate in Alton. As the tax bill will be due the end of December and the new assessments went up considerably, at least for those of us on the waterfront, it would be nice to know what we are expected to pay come the end of the year. Maybe this is the last increase we can absorb before selling out to someone that wants to tear down the homestead and build a McMansion. Sad after paying real estate taxes all these years that we will not be able to enjoy our home in our sunset years.

[chocophile]

I just talked to the Tuftonboro tax assessor. She said bills have not yet been sent. She does not know what the new rate will be. The state has not yet met with Selectmen to decide the rate. She is hopeful the bills will be sent by 12/1, but that date could change. The bills will be due 30 days after being sent.

[kunamola]

....on the new tax rate? Now that you have to buy a subscription to the Grunter and since the Tuftonboro website is brief it is hard to know if any decisions are being made that will affect some of us who live so far away most of the year.

My family is one-third owner of a three stall boathouse on Melvin Bay that is completely over the water. Avitar assigned each of the owner families a one-third value at a whooping $274,600.00! That is a $759,300.00 boathouse!! No electricity, no storage space other than boatslips and we do not own the docking used to access the boathouse, oh and did I mention it is 70 years old?

I spent hours on the now "fee accessible only" Avitar website as well as traveling around the lake by boat and car to find a "comparable" and could not find one similar. The comparables I came up with were all two stall boathouses and many looked like they had storage, electricity and some may contain living space.

I realize that anyone can make an error but to misjudge this boathouse that was last valued at $45,000.00 to the giant leap of $759,300.00 is one HUGE error and even if it seemed obvious it was still my responsibility as property owner to research and document for a review process.

Does anyone know if there are plans to document the number of errors or reviewed properties who had assessments changed? Will they send out another Property Assessment Booklet with the reviewed and corrected data? I would be interested in knowing just how many other errors both large and small are out there. I hope not too many as it was an upsetting and stressfilled few months for three long time "camp families" to envision the tax dollars we would have to pay on a 3/4 million+ dollar boathouse.

If someone would post when the tax rate is confirmed I would appreciate it.

[fatlazyless]

WOW, that's an absolutely huge increase. Where-O-where does the Avitar assessing company get these values from? Please keep us posted about what you can find out and good luck, sounds like you could use some.

[fatlazyless]

www.unionleader.com/articles.showfast.html?article=63032 is a related article from today's Union Leader about the Avitar assessing company and the town of Orford NH. Hope this link works.....the info I enter seems to get changed when posted, so who knows?

[Orion]

Kunamola, there is a petition being put together to investigate the inequities in Tuftonboro due to Avitar assessments. You may want to join in. See the Cow Island forum for information.

http://www.quicktopic.com/18/H/2DcQnXwaD2qL

[spotsink]

Just spoke with the Tax Collector in Tuftonboro and was told that the tax rate has been set at $6.10/$1000 of assessed value. This is a reduction of more than $10/$1000 from last years rate! I also confirmed that this is the annual rate and NOT a semi annual figure.

The new rate means a pleasantly surprising reduction in taxes for us :D
as I expect it should for most residents...

[Orion]

That's good news! Gotta love Tuftonboro!:)

[wintharbor]

I met with Avitar this summer to protest my new assesment. Their number was 120k higher than a professional appraisal done the same month for refinancing purposes. Their number was 250k higher than what we paid for the house 1.5 years ago and this was a property that was on the market for almost 3 years before we finally came in and bought it. I realize it may have appreciated some in the 18 months since we purchased it but 38% - I THINK NOT. The big problem is their formula for lot valuation which adds a 25% premium for a beach. Our beach is man made, simply sand dumped on the shoreline. There is no way it adds $150,000 to the value of the property. The fact the property is literally on a highway was not taken into account in the formula yet this was a major reason (according to the real estate agents) why this property sat on the market so long.

Looking at other assesments reveals boathouses add no multiplier effect to the property value. Any person who knows anything about real estate in this area knows boathouses command premium $$$$. A neighbor on nearby Winter Harbor Way told me the new boathouse on new construction on his street added 1 million dollars to the asking price for a large new house that recently sold. All of this evidently fell on deaf ears - my 'revised' assesment was exactly the same as the original.

Where do I go to fight this next?