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After Harpswell’s first townwide revaluation in two decades showed a typical property’s assessed value had jumped by nearly 50%, officials assured anxious residents that they would not face a similar increase in their tax bills.
“I’m expecting that everybody’s taxes will be pretty much the same,” Select Board member David Chipman said, noting that the town had adjusted its tax rate downward (from $6.66 per $1,000 of value to $4.84) to balance the increase in values.
For the most part, Chipman was right, according to a Harpswell Anchor analysis of the town’s roughly 5,100 properties. The typical (i.e., median) tax bill rose 9% — mostly because of a voter-approved 8.5% boost in funding for school, town and county budgets.
But moving from those overall figures to a more detailed breakdown yields insights into a wide range of individual impacts — and a portrait of a town where the traditional population of fishing families and other working-class people is being transformed by affluent buyers from other places.
According to town data and the Anchor analysis:
- Just over 55% of the town’s properties are owned by people with billing addresses inside Harpswell. Another 15% are owned by people from other Maine towns — and nearly 30% are from other states or countries, with Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Florida leading the list.
- As of 2026, 41% of properties (including land and structures) are worth less than $500,000. Another 36% fall in the $500,000 to $1 million range; 14% are valued at $1 million to $1.5 million; and the remaining 9% are worth more than $1.5 million.
- The new values vary dramatically according to the type of buildings on a given parcel of land. Mobile homes doubled in value, while summer cottages rose 75%. Town Assessing Agent Debbie Turner said those structures rose the most because they were not included in a partial townwide revaluation in 2024 — meaning the new values reflect an increase in market prices over a 20-year period since the last townwide valuation.
- Even buildings whose values were aligned with market rates in 2024 saw a range of differences based on the structure type. Conventional homes saw a 41% increase, for instance, while Cape Cods faced a 32% hike. Colonials climbed 23% in value, while ranch homes increased 12%.
- One in 10 property owners questioned their properties’ new taxable values with the consulting firm the town hired to do the revaluation. Of the 504 properties that were reviewed, one-third succeeded in having their values (and tax bills) reduced, 59% stayed the same — and 8% faced an increase. Owners who remain unhappy with their valuations have the option of appealing them to the town.
‘Are you serious?’
Property owners had a range of reactions. Some were unhappy to find that their values and tax bills had risen. Others were happy to find that while their property’s assessed value had climbed, their tax bills actually dropped.
Many were philosophical, saying the town still has a low tax rate compared to other states and municipalities.
Neil Welner owns a mobile home on Jessie Way in Cundy’s Harbor. The assessed value of his property, including the land and the building, went from $131,600 to $226,100, and Welner’s tax bill rose from $718 in 2025 to $933 in 2026. Welner bought the property a decade ago for $60,000.
The mobile home itself accounted for a significant portion of the value increase, despite the fact that Welner has done little work on it.
“The home was valued at $88,900” in the revaluation, Welner said. “Are you serious?”
According to Turner, the values of mobile homes rose more steeply than any other kind of structure because market values have soared since they were last assessed 20 years ago. As rising prices for traditional homes have priced many would-be homeowners out of the market, the cost of a traditionally affordable alternative has shot up.
Welner is a shellfish harvester who lives modestly so he can afford periodic long-distance sailing trips. While he has done some work to open up the space inside his home, the place remains, by any definition, modest.
“I know a neglected structure when I see one. I live in one,” he said. “I’ll pay whatever the tax is, but please explain this to me.”
Some owners of seasonal waterfront cottages are also grumbling. Because they were not included in the 2024 partial revaluation, Turner said the revaluation took into account the growth in market value over two decades.
Scott White, his siblings and their spouses share a two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage overlooking the water near Potts Point. Handed down through the generations, the cottage serves as a gathering place for family members and their friends during the warm months.
The 2026 revaluation had the property’s value more than doubling, from $356,500 to $776,300, with the tax bill jumping 58%. After White and his family challenged the new value, it was reduced slightly, to $774,000, but not nearly enough to satisfy them.
“The property is at a beautiful location, but it is basically a rustic cottage,” said White, who noted that the dwelling has no insulation and, aside from a rebuilt garage, remains largely unchanged. “My grandfather built it in the ’30s and ’40s. It doesn’t make sense to me that they would value it as high as they have. It’s an heirloom in the family passed down through the generations.”
“We know and respect that the town needs our support, and we are happy to pay our fair share,” White added. “We just believe our particular valuation is out of sync with the actual real estate market.”
‘We’re not wealthy people’
It wasn’t just mobile homes and summer cottages that saw a steep hike in value. When Connie Roberts saw the new valuation for the cedar-shingled home she and her brothers built off Harpswell Islands Road four decades ago, she saw that the taxable value of the building and land had soared from $286,500 to $380,400.
Roberts, a semi-retired bookkeeper, wasn’t shocked by the overall value; she found it to be in line with similar properties in her hometown. But in looking at the detailed breakdown, she saw that her hot tub had been valued at $10,000 (compared to the $2,500-$5,000 dealers told her it’s worth) and a portable gazebo valued at $5,000, far more than she paid.
She disputed the value with Vision Government Solutions, the contractor hired by the town to do the revaluation. While Vision’s appraisers agreed with her on the gazebo, they left the hot tub value as-is.
But when Roberts got her revised valuation, she saw that the total for her property had ballooned rather than shrunk — from the initial $380,400 valuation to $413,700.
She said nobody told her why. “I can’t figure that one, either.”
In Cundy’s Harbor, David Moser and his mother live in separate homes on a green expanse overlooking the water on Dingley Island. The revaluation had contrasting effects on their tax bills.
The value of his mother’s property rose from $4.16 million to $5.29 million, while its tax bill under the new rate declined from $27,575 to $25,503. David Moser’s property value rose from $1.12 million to $1.79 million, and his tax bill rose from $7,272 to $8,527.
His parents bought the land — the site of a former ice-harvesting business — in the 1980s, put in a road and built a homestead. Moser bought part of the property from his parents and, while working in his family’s fine furniture-making business, did extensive work to improve it.
“We’re not wealthy people. It’s all sweat work,” he said. “When you’re doing the work yourself, you should not be penalized.”
‘Blessed to be in Harpswell’
Turner said her office has received some complaints and requests for a downward revision, but no more than would be expected in the first townwide revaluation in two decades. That’s largely because most property owners saw a relatively modest change in tax burden.
Lisa and Bruce Cass own a mobile home near Stover’s Point that they have transformed into a small but eye-catching summer home. They purchased the lot and 1958 Westward model 11 years ago, gutted and remodeled it, and gave it a fresh coat of tropical blue paint, a landscape of brightly hued flowers and an improved view of the Cribstone Bridge.
“It’s a labor of love — a never-ending project,” said Lisa Cass, who joins her husband in spending the colder months near their grandchildren in California.
The revaluation had their home and land rise in value from $65,900 to $142,200, with a corresponding increase in taxes, from $439 in 2025 to $688 this year. They’re not complaining.
“Of course you don’t want the tax bill to go up,” she said. “But we’re from New Hampshire and they have some of the highest property taxes in the nation.”
While most of Harpswell’s property is residential, there are a handful of commercial properties. One of them is Uncle Pete’s Community Market on Harpswell Neck, whose property value rose from $277,800 to $433,900 and tax bill from $1,850 to $2,100.
Danny Patel, who purchased the business in 2024, said property taxes don’t impact his bottom line nearly as much as fast-rising prices for gas, food, beer, wine and tobacco.
“Tobacco products are up 30%,” he said. “That’s a big impact.”
Manning the cash register as a steady stream of customers purchased bottled water, snack foods, beer and sandwiches made in the kitchen out back, Patel said he has come to love his adopted community and is happy to support it through paying his share of taxes.
“It’s a good thing, the money going to schools and road maintenance,” Patel said. “I’m happy to pay that.”
Bridget and Rob O’Brian recently sold a stake in the boating business they built, North Atlantic Inflatables, to enjoy more time in the Sunset Cove home they’ve transformed from a seasonal place into a year-round home.
The waterfront property’s value rose from $639,600 to $957,500 in the revaluation, with their tax bill rising from $4,102 to $4,513.
“The tax bill, compared to other places we’ve lived, is pretty low,” Bridget O’Brian said. “And the money is going toward good things,” including public schools, road improvements and other services needed to “keep these things vibrant.”
They are happy to pay their share, she said. “We just feel blessed and lucky to be in Harpswell.”
Editor’s note: The data in this report is drawn from public assessment and tax records for all of Harpswell’s roughly 5,100 properties. An artificial intelligence tool, Claude, was used to provide a preliminary analysis. Results were checked against town records by the Anchor and reviewed by a local statistician, Jack Rowland, who has expertise in using AI for data analysis. The Harpswell Anchor does not use AI to generate stories or images and does not use information from AI without human verification.
