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Somerset County commissioners describe revaluation shifts; waterfront owners bear steepest increases
Summary
Commissioners said a county revaluation raised taxable valuation in the unorganized territories by about 37%, with a mill rate decline limiting total tax revenue growth to roughly 3%, while waterfront properties experienced much larger percentage increases; the county will host informational meetings and the state assessor will appear for questions.
Somerset County commissioners on Monday discussed a recent revaluation that raised taxable valuation in the unorganized territories from just over $1 billion to about $1.5 billion and its uneven impact on property owners.
An official summarized the county figures and said the mill rate fell about 25% — moderating the effect so that “the overall money collected through taxes is only like a 3% increase,” according to Speaker 3. But several commissioners and speakers warned that waterfront properties saw much larger valuation jumps, producing steep tax increases for those owners.
“Is the valuation up 83% for my parcel? Yes — it was painful,” Speaker 3 said, describing an individual experience and urging clearer public explanation and, if possible, a phased approach to avoid a single-year shock for taxpayers.
Commissioners attributed the smaller overall revenue change to compensating mill-rate adjustments: if valuations increase and the mill rate falls by a similar percentage, total tax take can remain relatively stable. The record shows the county-wide taxable valuation in the UT rose roughly 37% while the mill rate moved from about 7.58 to approximately 5.69.
The board said it will hold an informational meeting organized by Liz Caruso in Rockwood next Wednesday at 6 p.m. and that Lisa Wynaut with the state revenue service — described in the meeting as the state assessor for the unorganized territories — is scheduled to appear at the county’s October meeting to answer questions about conservation impacts and other assessment issues.
The commissioners also discussed how Tax Increment Financing connected to wind projects and a transmission corridor shelters hundreds of millions of dollars in valuation, and how choices about credit enhancement agreements or how to apply TIF receipts could be used to smooth impacts for average taxpayers in future budgets.
Next steps: the county will host the Rockwood information session and take public questions; the board indicated it will review options for spreading increases across budget years and seek clarification from the state assessor at the next county meeting.
