TURNER – The Board of Selectmen on Monday night approved a 7% pay increase for Rescue Department members.

After a short executive session, the board voted unanimously to approve the raise, effective immediately, “in recognition of COVID (and the) extra efforts” by those employees, Town Manager Kurt Schaub said.

The agenda item and motion from the Selectboard related to Turner Rescue only. Turner Fire is a separate department.

In other news, property values in town are estimated to increase by nearly 9% in 2022, the state office that determines state valuations said in a report released late last month. Maine Revenue Services valued Turner properties at $592.55 million, an increase of $47.15 million from 2021’s $545.4 million.

The state valuation is used to determine how money is appropriated to municipalities and counties for “state general purpose aid for education, state revenue-sharing and for county assessments,” according to the Maine Revenue Services.

It is also used to determine each town’s local contribution to county government and their school districts, Schaub said in a memo. School Administrative District 52 serves Turner, Greene and Leeds.

Municipalities have 45 days to contest the state valuations, though Schaub said at Monday night’s board meeting that there is “no reason to quibble with it that I can see.”

The process to determine state valuations takes about 18 months and the proposed 2022 valuations represent the “full equalized value” of taxable property – the estimated market value compared to the assessed value – as of April 1, 2020.

The state valuation proposal and the townwide revaluation that was completed earlier this year will not affect the assessed property values until next fall.

In early August, selectmen set the property tax rate for the 2021-22 tax year at $11.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

This story was updated to clarify that Turner Rescue and Turner Fire are separate departments.