Cumberland County panel approves $184,005.94 abatement for Harrison homeowner after dispute over 25% land-value factor

The Cumberland County Board of Assessment Review voted 3–1 on April 23, 2025, to grant a $184,005.94 tax abatement to an applicant from Harrison who challenged a 25% land-value adjustment applied to some waterfront lots.

The applicant, identified in the filing as Makovich, told the board the Town of Harrison applied a 1.25 multiplier to the land valuations of certain improved shoreline lots'including his property at 475 Cape Mundy Road'and that the adjustment was not grounded in market data. "The town of Harrison seems to be applying a discriminatory non market based factor to adjust some land valuations, including my own, by 25% above the fair market value," Makovich said during the public hearing.

Why it matters: The case centered on how the town separates land value from building value and whether structural features'finished space in an outbuilding or garage'should trigger a 25% uplift to land value. The applicant said he converted one bay of a four-bay garage into a bedroom and bath without adding a kitchen and without changing wells or septic capacity; the town told him that adding a kitchen would require a different…