“I had to create a system to show where everybody is screwed equally,” Town assessor Paul Binette.

LIVERMORE — Monday, June 8, Selectpersons were given an update on the revaluation being undertaken in town by town tax assessor Paul Binette and Michael O’Donnell of John E. O’Donnell and Associates, Inc.

The town was due for a revaluation of properties in 2020 at an estimated cost of $130,000. Voters at the 2017 Town Meeting approved putting $45,000 into a revaluation account. $44,000 was approved for it in 2018 and $41,000 last year.

Binette said work on the revaluation began this past winter.

“We visited each property in town to collect data, did resale studies and reset all evaluations established in 2010 to 2020 values,” he said. “We’ve created new building schedules. They’re not too different this time. We’re not expecting the response received last time.”

The final review will be completed in a week or so, after which a letter will be sent to all property owners.  Because of COVID-19 restrictions, it will be difficult if not impossible to hold meetings with taxpayers this year, he said.

“We have something now that wasn’t available in 2002. All assessments are available online,” Binette said. “We can share so much more information that way today. We’re going to put all the proposed assessments online.

“People can see it there, call me to talk. If we need to revisit a property, if there’s something we couldn’t see in the winter time, we can figure it out.

“I’ll have all of the resources at my fingertips.”

The assessment information is available on the Town of Livermore website.

O’Donnell said finding a place to hold in-person meetings could be a challenge this year. There may be a small group of people that need to have a meeting.

“We’re looking at the public’s health and safety first,” Binette said.

Selectperson Wayne Timberlake didn’t think the new system would be a problem.

“People tend to be angrier when talking on the phone than in person, Selectperson Brett Deyling said.

Properties sold in town in the last few years are looked at for the sales study, Binette said.

By looking at trends over the last three years, it shows the market is growing, he said.

“The sales study is a measure of the accuracy of our assessments,” Binette said. “We have to create an assessment on someone’s house that will sell next year.  In 2010, labor, insurance, etc, were cheaper. Things are more expensive today.

“I had to create a system to show where everybody is screwed equally.”

“Sales studies are mandated by the state as a way to measure what we do,” O’Donnell said. “Since we can’t really measure the value of properties with no data, we use values of properties that have sold.”

Using figures from 2016 or before would have been valuing too much on yesterday and not enough on today due to different markets, Binette said. “It would have brought values down, valuing too much on yesterday and not enough on today.

“We balance a need between how many sales with how far back did the market change more than appropriate for today.”

“We’re in the business of looking at the recent past and setting values for that market,” O’Donnell said. “We have pretty good data from 2017, 2018 and 2019. We always set values based on the data we have.

“We don’t know where the market is going, we can’t tell you where it will be in 18 months.

“We’re setting values for Livermore based on the last three years of the real estate market. In eight or nine months if there’s no change, that’s great. It could go to hell.

“Do you agree to just set to market now and let the future be what it is?”

By consensus, the Selectpersons agreed to use sales data from the last three years.

The uncertainty over what is going to happen with Maine revenue sharing this year will make it virtually impossible to estimate the tax rate this year, Binette said.

If Livermore’s budget this year is about the same, the revaluation should be pretty quiet, O’Donnell said.

The Livermore Falls tax rate was $22.60 per $1,000 valuation last year while Jay’s was $18.25 per $1,000. Livermore’s increased $0.25 last year to $16.25 per $1,000, Binette said.

“You guys have a nice tax rate,” he said.

“Of all the years, this year is better than most to not hold face to face meetings,” he said. “If a town goes 18-20 years between revaluations, it’s a mess, it’s rough. Values can go from $4,000 to $68,000.

“One of the great advantages of doing revaluations periodically is it takes that out of it. Doing revaluations every 10 years is smoother, keeps everybody’s life easier.

“You [Selectpersons] are able to do the stuff you were elected to do, not having to fight taxes all the time.”