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By Aliss Higham
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Residents of a city in Maine could benefit from reduced property taxes under a new budget proposal.
Unveiling his fiscal year 2025 budget, Saco city administrator John Bohenko has proposed a 70-cent cut per thousand dollars of a property's assessed value, bringing the rate down from $14.75 in the 2024 fiscal year to $14.05 in 2025.
This means a homeowner in the southern Maine city with a median house value of $515,000 would experience a tax reduction of $355.35, Bohenko told council members on Monday.
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Across the state of Maine, the average effective property tax rate is 1.24 percent, according to Rocket Mortgage. The typical Maine resident will pay $2,756 a year in property taxes according to Smart Asset.
According to Bohenko, the change would reduce tax bills for approximately 85 percent of residential taxpayers in the city. The proposed change comes after a $3 million increase in city revenues over the last year.
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"Last year we had a major increase for people in their taxes, and we heard it. The council wanted to pay attention to the needs of our residents and we felt that from a staff perspective that we were able to do this this year," Bokenko told local news outlet WMTW.
Newsweek reached out to Bohenko via email for comment.
Maine is ranked 36th on a list of the country's property tax rates, from lowest to highest. According to data compiled by Rocket Mortgage, the average annual tax paid on a home with a median assessed value of $209,200 is $2,586.29.
The average state property tax rate is a far cry from the lowest reported in Hawaii, where residents pay an average of $937.29 on properties with a median list price of $297,400. To compare, Hawaii has a 0.32 percent effective property tax rate to Maine's 1.24 percent.
However, the property tax rate is not as high as it is for those living in New Jersey. According to the same data, residents of New Jersey pay an average property tax rate of 2.23 percent. By the same metrics, residents pay an average of $8,597.69 on properties with a median value of $384,700.
The $73.3 million budget, which also includes municipal spending, school department expenses and county taxes, is a spending increase of nearly $1.1 million from the current 2024 fiscal year budget.
Taking up his role as Saco City administrator in October 2023, the latest budget is Bohenko's first for the city.
"I look to continue the City's tradition of providing high-quality services to our citizens through public safety, emergency assistance, recreation, education, resource recovery, and other essential day-to-day operations," he told WMTW.
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