The Harpswell Select Board has set the 2024 property tax rate at $6.36 per $1,000 of valuation, up 26 cents, or 4.3%, over last year.
Several factors influence the tax rate. The biggest is public education. In 2024, Harpswell will contribute $10.2 million, an increase of 5.9%, to the budget for Maine School Administrative District 75.
Other factors include expenses for town government, at $7.36 million, up 6.2%; and Harpswell’s share of the budget for county government, at $1.55 million, up 7.6%.
Those expenses are partially offset by non-property-tax income, such as excise taxes on motor vehicles and the “fund balance,” or money left over from the previous year. All non-property-tax revenues total $3.51 million, up 6.5%.
Another factor is the value of new construction, which grows the tax base and lessens the impact of higher expenses.
The Select Board approved the new rate 3-0 during a brief meeting on Thursday, Aug. 1.
The rate was $6.10 in 2023, $5.90 in 2022, and $6.76 in 2021. The drop from 2021 to 2022 followed adjustments in the way the town assesses property values.
Harpswell has the lowest tax rate among Cumberland County’s 28 municipalities.
Tax bills likely will go out by mid-August, according to town officials. Payments will be due in two installments, on Sept. 16 and Dec. 16.
