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Assessing official: Skowhegan residential market values have roughly doubled since 2020; mill rate will mediate tax impacts
Summary
Town assessor Brent Martin told the Select Board that median residential sale prices rose from about $124,000 to more than $250,000 since 2020. He said assessed values must track market values, and the board of assessors and the mill rate will determine the final tax impacts.
Brent Martin, who has been doing assessing work for the town for about a year and a half, told the Select Board on Sept. 23 that residential market values in Skowhegan have risen sharply. "We have our median sale prices in Skowhegan just since 2020, 2021, were around a $124,000, and now they're in excess of 250,000. So they've literally doubled in the last 5 years," Martin said.
Martin explained the state constitution requires municipalities to keep residential assessed values close to market values and that the board of assessors sets the mill rate. He said commercial and industrial valuation (including recent equipment brought to town) offset what otherwise might have been a larger tax shift to residential properties.
Martin described the revaluation process: the town runs a sales-ratio study annually, updates neighborhood factors or per-square-foot adjustments where needed, and then the board of assessors sets values; final tax bills are influenced by the town’s budget and other revenue streams as well as the mill rate.
He warned residents that individual tax outcomes will vary: "So to each individual, it's gonna look a little different," he said. The board asked for follow-up conversations once the mill rate is set; Martin said bills will likely be mailed within one to two weeks after the assessment files are moved to tax collection.
