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City assessor: certified ratio falls to 73%; mill rate rises to $24.50
Summary
City Assessor Karen Scammon and Deputy Assessor Joe St. Peter told Auburn City Council the 2026 tax commitment shows a certified ratio drop to 73%, targeted market adjustments on 673 parcels, and a mill rate increase from $22.88 to $24.50; revaluation work resumes later this year with new values due by contract in August 2027.
Karen Scammon, Auburn's city assessor, told the council the 2026 tax commitment was completed on July 13 and that the certified ratio used for state reporting fell from 85% last year to 73% this year.
"And our mill rate went from $22.88 to $24.50," Scammon said, describing changes that will affect bills when assessed values and exemptions are applied. Deputy Assessor Joe St. Peter said staff made targeted market adjustments to address inequities across property classes and that "overall, we only adjusted 673 properties out of 9,506," roughly 7% of city parcels.
Scammon and St. Peter explained the certified-ratio mechanics under Maine law: when market prices rise faster than assessed values, the ratio drops and certain partial exemptions must be ratcheted down. The council was told the city's homestead exemption fell from $23,250 last year to $18,250 at the 73% ratio, a change Scammon said adds about $73.50 to an average tax bill for a homestead exemption alone.
On revaluation timing, staff said inspections were paused as of April 1 to avoid putting post-April transactions into the roll; inspections will resume late summer and the contract requires completed values by August 2027. City staff cautioned that taxpayers are unlikely to see revaluation impacts until tax bills in 2028 and said state guidance on revised exemption application procedures is expected in December or January.
Councilors asked whether the ratio will continue falling; St. Peter said the city expects to declare 100% once the new 2028 values are in but declined to promise an outcome, citing market changes and the state's retrospective sales window used to compute the certified ratio.
