HOULTON, Maine — For the second time in three years, an Aroostook town’s properties will be revalued because they have not kept pace with the current market, according to state officials.
Houlton decided to adjust valuations after the Maine Department of Revenue Services notified officials that the town’s 2026 ratio was 80%, meaning the overall property valuation is about 20% below current market sales.
When the ratio falls below 100%, property owners qualifying for the state’s homestead, veterans and blind exemption programs will not receive their full exemption because the current assessments do not reflect the changing market values, Houlton assessor Terry Duff said.
“The ratio needs to be at 100%,” Duff said.
Mainers throughout the state have been hit by similar challenges in recent years, driven by a spike in home sale prices that have sometimes doubled valuations and taxes. Some of the hardest hit residents have been in vacation destinations along Moosehead Lake and Sugarloaf ski mountain. For landowners in these real estate hot spots, valuations have doubled or tripled, pushing tax levies up 60% or more.
Soaring home prices began during the COVID-19 pandemic as people from larger cities, used to spending more on properties, sought the solace of Maine’s landscape. And while Duff said she expects it to eventually cool, sale prices are currently not decreasing.
Duff uses current market sales data along with property condition, age, recent renovations and other property features to formulate the new property value. Some valuations will be less than 20% and others higher, she said.
Property owners were hit hard in 2023 with valuation increases of 40% or more. For example, a property on Foxcroft Road went from $58,650 to $100,800; a property on Fair Street went from $81,650 to $150,100; a property on Elm Street went from $42,450 to $88,800; a property on Pleasant Street went from $174,850 to $282,900; and a property on Pearce Avenue went from $64,050 to $124,400.
Taxpayers often worry that increasing property values means higher taxes, but that is not always the case. As assessed values rise, mill rates can decrease, Duff said.
Last year the mill rate held steady at 19.4 because town councilors voted to use up to a half million dollars of the town’s undesignated fund balance and another half million from Tax Increment Finance reserve accounts, according to a letter sent to taxpayers.
According to Duff, they will not know the 2026 mill rate until September.
