Center Harbor Assessments
 

Has anyone else received their property assessment from Center Harbor? Town website says letters have gone out to all property owners.

Our assessment has more than doubled. Anyone else? Misery loves company.

A new assessment does not necessarily mean a huge change in your tax bill. This is dscussed here almost annually. In the meantime I heard a few days ago that the NH DRA is delaying setting the tax rate because of possible changes to the state wide school tax. If you want to pay your property tax and have it apply to your 2022 income tax return, the timing could be close to year end.

New assessments in Laconia this past spring did lead to a 11% rise in taxes. Unsure why center harbor would be any different


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Moultonborough total overall assessed valuations for as of April 1st for 2022 just increased 24% over last year (2021), with waterfront land generally up 30.7% across the board. All driven by a super hot real estate market and a small population of sales that are extrapolated across the entire tax base.

Because the assessment is only the means to determine what each property owners share of the total annual budget will be.

If every property assessment increases/decreases the exact same percentage, and the annual budget is flat... the actual property taxes stay exactly the same.

An 11% rise in total taxation could only be because of an 11% rise in the annual budget, or lower secondary revenues.

The assessment would not be a factor.

24% general with a 30.7% specific should transfer more of the budget cost to the lakefront properties.

Exactly what happened in Laconia


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But a general rise in assessments of 11 percent does not shift or increase the taxes.

You had to have a property assessed at more than the general 11 percent, an increase in the budget, or a fall off of secondary revenue.

Maybe all three.

Loss of secondary revenue is usually - but not always - due to the State or federal government cutting out transfer payments.

An increase in the budget should be public knowledge.

And an increase of certain properties beyond the 11% general should be the norm based on market desire.

Our Center Harbor assessment is up 32%. Unfortunately, you seem to have a more desirable house than ours (per current market demand), which has made such houses an attractant for escalated valuations as verified by sale prices. If the town budget were to remain static, this will shift a bigger portion (apportionment) of the tax costs to you and away from us. Sorry, but that's how property taxes work. This is also why there are requirements for frequent reevaluations, to apportion taxes fairly based on current market value.

On the positive side, you have a much more valuable property. :D

As a side note, since the overall valuation of Center Harbor property has almost certainly increased, the tax rate should drop. It is pointless to estimate this year's tax based on the new valuation and last year's tax rate. If you know the overall percent increase in valuation for the town, if your assessment is around that percent then you shouldn't see a big change in your tax payment (again assuming a stable budget and outside revenue). If your percentage is well above the average, you will likely see an increase in taxes. If you are well below the average, a decrease in taxes.

In addition, since the first tax payment (June) is an estimate based on last years valuations and tax rate it takes none of these changes into account. Your December bill will have to take that into account and make up the difference. An example: Say your last years tax was $3000. This June, you paid $1500. Now, suppose your taxes went up 25% this year to a total of $3750. For December you will owe $2250, a lot more than in June. Be prepared.

What a mess this state school tax has been-always!!

No.
Descant is pointing out that the SWEPT may be actually taken to Concord and be redistributed.

Decades ago, you probably being too young, NH was all SWEPT. There was no BPT/BET or M&R taxes to cover the State costs. We didn't have the lottery, or even D&I... go back far enough and we didn't even have a tobacco tax... certainly not a communications or electric usage tax, and no gas tax.

when I went to see the company doing the assessment in Moultonborough, she didn't acknowledge the few houses sold ( It is what it is) . I also ask why towns such as Meredith don't reevaluate every year. Her answer was the town wanted to assess every year to reflect the continued rise in waterfront houses. i.e. continue to put more of the burden on houses that don't vote

Some pretty good posts here about taxes. It's important to note that increasing property values do not increase taxes. ( unless your property increases in value faster than the average value increase). Votes increase taxes. At town meetings you vote to increase your property tax. For other taxes, the candidate you vote for controls the increase in taxes. Keep this in mind.

Also my experience is that assessments are always behind actual property values. Most of the time your property is worth more than it is assessed. I say most of the time because I think we are headed into a phase where home values will be decreasing. Does anyone think that will cause property taxes to decrease?

I believe the municipalities have the option of assessing the whole at once not more than every five years... or using an annual rolling option.

If we really wanted to move it onto those that do not vote (non-residents), we could change the homestead exemption from being old and low income to anyone that is a resident... and change the format to 50% of the median valuation in the municipality.

Not only will they not acknowledge the small sample size of houses sold, they also do not acknowledge that the new assessments in many cases do not equate with the actual sales values despite having this data for comparison.

In Moultonborough, a big decision is pending for the Board of Selectmen. After Town Meeting approved a "liberal" budget for the 18 month budget fiscal year conversion last year, the discussion was that any excess funds at year end would be returned to taxpayers. Well, the town had a surplus of $1.9 Million dollars and the Board of Selectmen should live up to returning every dollar of this excess to the taxpayers in the upcoming December Tax Bill. But will they...???? Every penny is taxpayer money and due back to everyone.

Legally, it would not be returned... as the Town Budget would not end in December.

Excess is most often rolled over into the requests for the next cycle. Sometimes it is shuffled into one of the many capital improvement funds. But I am pretty sure that it cannot be returned (checks cut) without DRA approval.

Right. Racetracks and booze. Not many state services, nor many people to be serviced.

I believe the change over was under Peterson.

Farmers were upset with paying property taxes on livestock and tractors...
While industry wasn't pleased about paying on production machinery; even when it sat idle.

Wrong...Moultonborough's fiscal year ends now on June 30.

Correct.
It does not end in December...
The next time that you would pay taxes.

It would end in June. And the new budget would be in effect, with the option of using the excess toward the new budget rather than raising it from property taxes... or shuffling it to a capital improvement account.

Your June payment would be an estimate, base on the past, and your December payment would be the difference base on the budget that began in July.

Many thanks for the thoughtful responses. After my initial panic subsided, I did realize the rate has not yet been set. Fingers crossed our December bill will not be 3 times our June bill.

I did look at the data this afternoon. As far as I can tell - all waterfront land was bluntly bumped up to $2mm as a baseline. Looking at my neighbors, acreage and quality of land did not have huge impacts on the assessment, i.e. you're in for $2mm if you've got an acre and +$250k ish if you've got 10 acres.

I'll be interested in the values this year and next. Though assessed value does not equal market value, in looking at our assessment we did agree we could have sold for that number 6 months ago.....but now or 6 months from now? The market doesn't appear to be softening yet, but it does appear to be slowing.

So some smart folks here! Alton is where our place is and as an old lake house we are getting priced up by McMansions. I am wondering how Alton fares in these tax hikes? Usually we are lower but still pricey considering the value. If things ever got critical and we sold this place it would be a tear down and they would cram as much house as they could on our 100' frontage pie shaped lot.

I don't see it softening. It is spreading out a bit. But I think people are confusing national news with local.

Just received my gift from the city this evening. $6400 tax increase for the coming year


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That's a huge property tax increase, assuming its an increase of $6400 in one year ...... just totally huge.

None of Laconia's outdoor tennis courts have a plywood tennis/pickleball 12'x24' hitting backboard ..... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faih318xuyM ....so Laconia should consider building a backboard with construction lumber and plywood and dark green paint and put your $6400 to a good purpose. Lumber prices have seen big price increases, over the last three years but I think your $6400 would build a very nice 12'x24' hitting backboard.

Laconia has two different outdoor tennis/pickleball court venues at Memorial Park and at Leavitt Park.

Thank you for the suggestion. Some return is better then none


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As many waterfront home owners maybe know, there is a ten thousand dollar LIMIT on deducting state and local income, sales and property taxes from your federal tax return.

And looking closely at this photograph, Memorial Park in Laconia ..... www.laconianh.gov/1041/Memorial-Park ..... already has a very nice hitting backboard within its five tennis courts but not at Leavitt Park's ... https://www.laconianh.gov/1040/Leavitt-Park ..... two tennis/pickleball courts.

I think lumber is where it is going to be.

That's a big increase! Is that without any major improvements to your property?

My valuation jumped almost $95K on my 1000 sq ft townhouse in Laconia. I am not really complaining too much as we have been under assessed for awhile. I think most people in Laconia were underassessed, so there is a bit of a shock when the bill comes due. Luckily, I still have a little room before the tax assessment hits full market value.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your POV), this meteoric rise in value can be attributed to Covid and how this state managed it as well as a shortage of properties for sale. I do think there might be a 5% or so price correction coming, but until inventory exceeds demand, I do not think much will change pricewise.

Woodsy

The city actually decreased the value of my home. But, increased the waterfront lot I am on $525k! That is correct. As many have said, in the surrounding area towns waterfront property value has skyrocketed. As woodsy notes above, condo evaluations skyrocketed by over 40% per todays LDS. This prices will change the city demographics. For better or worse we will see.


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The rise was actually predicted long before anyone heard of Covid.

Demographics dominate housing in the Lakes Region.

The Boomers started reaching Medicare age in 2010, the largest number will peak in 2024, and being that they should live to an average of about 20 years after that... we should see demand in the Lakes Region continue to increase for some time.

An update for Center Harbor
 

I spoke with the Center Harbor town clerk today and she says they have NOT yet received the approved town tax rate from the state. Things were delayed by the revaluation and a delay in getting the school tax info (Meredith). She expects the property tax letters will go out in 2 weeks and taxes will be due in January.

They are waiting on the state so none of this is cast in stone.

Unfortunately for many, the value of waterfront lots has skyrocketed. I am not surprised that the value of your lot has increased $525K.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Center Harbor tax bills for property not close to the lake are falling. Maybe a forum member with direct knowledge can chime in...

This is from the Meredith website. https://www.meredithnh.org/home/news...-bills-delayed

As I just posted, no tax bills in CH for another couple weeks.

As I mentioned in a previous reply, our Center Harbor assessment (not on the lake) is up 32%. I'm sure lakefront in CH is going up at an even faster rate so those properties will see a bigger hike in taxes since the property tax burden will shift more to them.

There has been a gentrification process going on near to the lake for quite a while and it will probably continue. There are continued complaints from non residents about taxation with no right to vote in the local towns (to reign in budgets) but as long as other people are willing to bid up lake prices the tax burden on lake property will continue to rise. As I have pointed out in past threads, the benefit is a higher value on your property. Small solace, I know, for people land rich but income poor, but that's the rules of the game.

Total 2022 Property Tax Rate = $8.99. :D

https://www.centerharbornh.org/home/...perty-tax-rate

Well, my actual tax bill will go down about 22%. I know that the people on the lake will be picking that up. That's the way property taxes work. Their valuations went up a lot more than mine.

For numbers geeks
 

With a little digging I found that the new Center Harbor town valuation for 2022 is $717,205,779 compared to $438,620,781 last year. That is a 63.5% increase in valuation.

By my math (subject to review), with spending being flat, the new tax rate would be:

$15.27 (2021 rate) X ($438,620,781/$717,205,779) = $9.34

Since the actual rate set is $8.99, obviously spending has dropped a bit. I won't go into details, and it is always possible I made a math error, but it looks like the municipal, state ed, and local ed rates (and comparative spending) all went down a bit more than the valuation adjustment would result in. The county rate went up more than the valuation adjustment.

There are many influencers on these numbers, but overall the government seems NOT to have increased spending, which is good.

So, if your taxes in Center Harbor have gone up, it is because your property values have spiked more than the average 63.5% and the tax burden has been shifted to you. It's how the property tax game is played but OUCH!

Using the math above ($8.99 rate) with our new new assessed value would put our tax bill roughly level with years past.

I say new new because the original valuation letter we received said the town was taking appointments over three days for arguments from property owners. My husband called immediately and found the three days were full and he was given a later time. The person he spoke with confirmed they did immediately value any lot with direct waterfront at $2mm. We have not received the updated letter, but looking online at our property card the valuation has been updated - downwards.

What did they use as a standard waterfront lot size? 100 feet? What happens if you have 200 or 300 feet?

Municipal $3.72
County $0.84
Local Education $3.49
State Education $0.94
Total 2022 Property Tax Rate = $8.99
all are $/$1000 of assessment

Then,

$3.72 = tax effort divided by valuation
let y = tax effort,
then,
$3.72 = y/ $717,205,779
y = $.00372 x $717,205,779
y = $2,668,005 (municipal tax effort)

the other three parts of the total tax effort
$.84= y/$717,205, 779
y = $.00084 x $717,205,779
y = $602,453 county tax effort

$3.49 = y/$717,205,779
y = .00349 x $717,205,779
y = $2,503,048 local ed. tax effort


$.94 = y/$717,205,779
y = .000094 x $717,205,779
y = $674,173 state ed. tax effort


$2,668,005 + $602,453 + $$2,503,048 + $674,173 =
$6,447,679 the total tax effort

Total tax effort divided by the valuation = tax rate

$6,447,678 divided by $717,205,779 = .008989 or $8.99/1000 of valuation



Might ask town tax collector when should Center Harbor show up on this NH DRA site.

https://www.revenue.nh.gov/mun-prop/...-tax-rates.pdf

https://www.centerharbornh.org/tax-c...ax-information

The math can be tough due to secondary revenues - registrations/etc.
The expenditures would have been set by town vote back last spring.

Here's a dated NH DRA piece, but present process is same.

https://www.revenue.nh.gov/documents...2021_FINAL.pdf

Old tax rate: $15.27/$1000
New tax rate: $8.99/$1000
41% decrease

Assessment up 63.5%

Assessment x tax rate = tax bill
63.5% increase x 41% decrease = new tax bill

If the billing is like in Moultonborough, 1/2 of this latest "Dec. 2022" bill is due , less the July 2022 tax bill paid. The other half is your July 2023 bill.

I don't think my husband got into it but from what I observed anyone who had waterfront land started at $2mm, regardless of lot size. So you could be on half an acre and be assessed at $2mm for the land. Or you could be on 10 acres and be assessed $2.6mm for the land. It looked to be more a baseline with not super significant escalation upward for size of lot.

Island waterfront and deeded access started at $1mm.

Got my tax bill today for Moultonborough, $4.38/per thousand, $1600/yr. My total tax went down by $400. I was expecting a big increase, I'll take it...

If it's still the same, you pay extra up to a certain amount of footage and then no more. I should remember that amount but don't.

Not for Center Harbor. The WHOLE bill minus the July 2022 payment is due. If you pay by Jan 3rd, you get a 2% early pay discount on the balance due.

I stand corrected. Need to slow down some times. Thanks.
MoBo 's process is the same except for the discounr. We get

8% APR Charged After 01/11/2023


"The tax rate is set in the fall of the year. The final bill is calculated using the new rate multiplied by your property’s assessed value as of April 1st less any payments made on the first bill. Printed and mailed in the middle to end of October, it is usually due December 1st each year. Interest at 8% per annum is charged on tax bills not paid by the due dates."



https://www.moultonboroughnh.gov/tax...illing-process

Anyone know what the Meredith tax rate is yet?

Looks like $13.97

https://www.revenue.nh.gov/mun-prop/...-tax-rates.pdf