Taxes
 

My property tax bill up again in Meredith.:(
Anyone else see a significant increase?

Mined went up in Moultonboro by 12%

Not to pry too much, but it would be good to know specifics in these discussions. If your tax dollars are up/down, what's the % change, and is your home on the water? Also, what's the increase in the town's budget?

Laconia
 

The City of Laconia increased the assessed value by 9.5%

The rate went up in Meredith, my assessment stayed the same. I'm not on the water but have water rights and a dock.

Up Also
 

Meredith; Waterfront;Assessment stayed the same;Taxes up 7.5% over previous bill.

I just shake my head, feel bad for myself for a minute and move on.They ain't ever going down. But there will come a day where its no longer sustainable.

That day is getting close for many people. I'm not directly on the water so my taxes are still pretty manageable,
But, with two homes and being retired, I'm not sure how much more I will accept before deciding it's not worth it anymore.

That's what's scary. At what point do people say it's not worth it anymore even if they can afford it. How do you justify those kind of taxes for two months or so? I think the towns need to wake up and slow down their spending.

Taxes will continue to go up it is just the way it is. I don't know how much the Tax Rate itself has changed in Moultonborough, but I don't think too much, but what continues to increase is the Value of my property. As each neighbor around me puts up a bigger home, my value continues to go up as well.....

Knowing how much I can sell the property for, it is likely a mater of time, before I decide it isn't worth it. Right now however we are considering what work it would take to have something we would be comfortable renting.... That is a way to make some money, keep the property, and not be burdened by it....

fixed income/rising outgo...
 

A lot of people dream of retiring here, so they can enjoy the place that for many years, in some cases, was just a weekend/vacation place. With retirement comes living off fixed income whether from pensions, annuities, or the "4% rule" drawing from a portfolio... ever-increasing taxes will drive a number of these folks away. Seems a shame...

That's what I'm faced with, retired with two homes, one in Ma and one in NH. My wife doesn't want to live in NH full time and at some point I may need to sell one, it would most likely be the lake house. :( If it was just up to me the decision would be an easy one, I would retire at the lake.

It is human nature to complain about taxes, but there is a solution. People need to get involved in what is happening in their town. Get on the Advisory Budget Committee or run for an office, etc. etc. In M'boro, schools are spending huge amounts of money and just ignoring taxpayers. Just recently 8 people announced retirement and even with low enrollment, the school board has decided to hire replacements...another stick in taxpayers eyes. One of the retirees was a principal. Why do they need three principals and a Supt. of less than 500 students? Dumb.... There is no accountability. Watch the school meetings on-line.....but see that only one or two residents show up and ask questions. Same for Select Board. There are lots of very smart people around, but most just pay their tax bills and grumble. Get off your butt and get involved...or just suck it in and pay. Up to you.....

If they aren't residing here, and only spending a couple of months...
Not really that easy to ''get involved''.

Long Line of Buyers
 

I think one problem with the "at what point will towns wake up and start being frugal" thought is that it isn't as strong because for every one of us trying to keep a grip on our dream there are 100 people in line waiting for us, with cash, to lose that grip and decide to sell to them. Towns don't care who pays as long as they pay.

Moultonborough's present tax rate, 5.65, is the second lowest in 36 years.
The previous tax rate, 5.70, was the third lowest in 36 years.
The lowest tax rate in 36 years was the 4.78 which was prior to the 5.70 rate.

There are pros and cons to assessments. Sellers are smiling, and probably downsizing, here or wherever.

Tax bills ...

Without going too far off-topic, this is the problem with many things.

I remember people complaining about the exponential rise in ticket prices for the Bank NH Pavilion when ticket companies took over—a few years later, and there are still enough people paying those prices for it not to be an issue.

I'll add that the current state of consumer debt in America might indicate that not only are people willing to overspend on things, but that they're willing to finance that overspending.

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That sounds good but is misleading. It may be the lowest rate in 36 years but the assessment is the highest in forever. Each town and school votes to spend so much money and need to collect that amount no matter how they call it.

It is not misleading ... it is factual.

Voters determine two of the four segments to the town tax rate:
Municipal, county, local school, and state school.

Town voters have a say on municipal and local school.

The state school rate is still being determined by the NH Supreme Court and the two court cases regarding SWEPT etc.

The town and school don't vote ... the voters ... vote and the decision is based on plurality.

We haven't really had a recession in over 15 years, other than the first 6 months of the pandemic and then prices took off. That's the only thing that really resets the economy and causes prices to decline. Prices on everything have gone up substantially and people are still working off that sub 3% borrowed money. At some point the consumer will balk at the increases and pull back. I don't think things can keep going up at this rate much longer without a pull back.

It's factual but it "sounds good" until you say the assessment has doubled so you are not paying less. But I don't think I need to explain that to you. Oh thank you, I didn't realize that, I thought it was the school and town that voted not the voters.

that's already happening with cars... manufacturers drove the average transaction price for a car to $50K... they are sitting on lots now. I heard a commercial on the radio for a car dealer in Maine who was offering $12k below invoice (not MSRP) on some Jeeps and Ram trucks...

You might need to comprehend the disctinction from assessments ... tax rate ... and the multilpication of the two to determine the tax bill.

I'm please you now understand the difference between town/schools and voters.

Moultonborough had at its last annual town meeting and annual school district meetings, I think, around 250 voters, out of a resident population of over 5,000 and around 4,700 registered voters.

How do you think that affects the Moultonborough tax bill ?

Maybe.
But lakefront/access property in central NH is a finite supply.

So it doesn't take a whole lot of demand to keep those prices rising.

Exactly. With median prices >$2MM, nobody's borrowing to be on the water. It's all capital gains from a very hot stock market. Look for a cut in taxes on the wealthy to boost lake prices higher, or a drop in the S&P to bring them lower

That doesn't keep people from looking elsewhere, like Maine. The very wealthy will own all the NH lakefront, and the rest will look to Maine, where there is a much larger supply.

Don't view many attending school board meetings.
Police, fire, DPW . . . buy anything that they want.
Who do you think pays for all of this?


Only answer is SB2. Up Up or Down vote. Done.

Or whine or wine all of the time.

Many of those very wealthy refinanced their business debt and when their businesses make more, they also make more. I'm sure Trump renegotiated all the loans on his real estate empire at very low rates as did many other commercial and income producing property owners did. But the stock market has also contributed to all this wealth. I think 2025 will be a make or break year, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
I know I'm holding off on any big expenditures for at least the first six months to see which way it goes but I'm 70 and not your typical consumer anymore.

I'm not a resident so I can't really move the needle by voting.
All I can't do is sit back and watch, and pay until I no longer can.
I have a neighbor that put his home on the market just before the election. He's in his 80's and his wife 90. I think he missed the top of the market because he's already dropped the price 50K and there's not many lookers. I think that home would have sold quickly last spring.
I feel bad for him because he has to sell, and he took out a reverse mortgage to continue to be able to pay his bills. He has 200 ft on the water, so his tax bill is high.

The recession during the pandemic was actually just two months! Length of the recession aside, your point is well taken. I’m not wishing for a recession but when one hits many things will be reset as there is a lot of leverage in the economy.

From Google:

"According to available data, since 1789, the average number of years between recessions in the United States is roughly 5-6 years"

That is the average in years.

The actual tax you pay is a complicated matter with multiple moving parts.

Your assessment is based on your properties value as COMPARED TO OTHERS IN THE TOWN. The net value of the property can go up, or down. The desirability of YOUR property can go up or down as measured by similar properties that have sold recently. This evaluation is not an exact science. A sale (or a couple) driven by someone willing to pay a premium for getting what they want can ripple through all other similar houses. Limited availability of properties can drive up competition and prices. The overall economy can limit or explode what people are willing to pay for property. The real issue is if YOUR property stands out to gain, or lose, from the factors that are driving the prices. There could be a general increase in prices but your house is in a desirable town and houses there similar to yours are being bid up. Your house valuation goes up with THEIR sales. You have a more valuable house and get the taxes that go along with that. When the town's percent change in valuation is announced, you can compare YOUR percent change in valuation and estimate that your taxes are going up or down and, generally, how big the change will be.

Then there is the town's budget. Again there can be many factors in play. There can be special considerations for THIS year that drives taxes up. Frankly, it seems that most budgets of towns around the lake are not exploding. Maybe they have been have been comparatively higher for a long time but they don't tend to make great leaps upward unless there are justifiable costs. YES, I know people can quote exceptions. However, if you live in a town that has had high taxes for the last 20 years, do you think that is going to change?

The tax RATE is set by the overall town valuation and the town's budget.

All the above has to play out before you get your tax bill. Every time new valuations get sent out, people panic because they have, usually, gone up. You need to take into account overall town valuation and the town budget. Then you have to wait for your actual tax bill.

I'm not saying it won't be bad news but until you get it, you can't be sure what it will be. As information is released prior to the bills coming out, you may estimate but ALL the information needs to be compared.

Long overdue, "caution" is the theme for 2025.

Pretty tough that an octogenarian can't live out his days at his place if it is taxes that drove him out... it would be pretty easy to fix that. For example, in the case of a person over a certain age, maybe 80 or 85, taxes accrue but are deferred and settled (including interest) with the estate after death...

This is a very good idea that I believe deserves to be talked about more. No one should be forced out of their home because of taxes. This seems like a very logical solution because the money is tied up in the home.

There is already a mechanism in statute.

The problem seems to be that regardless of what people are told, they do not save enough for retirement. Especially the retirement they want.

I watch people retiring in their late 60s and 70s building dream homes with stairs and no thought to the age-in-place concept. So I think regardless of what government tries to do, we fail as individuals to grasp the concept some times.

As best I can tell everyone's taxes went up. I would need to take a look at my past few tax bills to see the breakdown over the past 10 years.

The tax rate in Gilford has decreased every year over the previous 9 years. This year the tax rate went up. In 2020 the tax rate was $15.03. In 2021 it was $12.28, down 18.3%. In 2022 it was $12.25, down 0.2%. In 2023 it was $10.30, down 15.9%. This year it was $11.25, up 9.22%.

Did the town's spending - municipal & school - increase that much?

Taking into account the revaluation that saw a 0.75% increase in the value or Gilford property, that doesn't make sense. Our tax rate for local education increased $0.57 (6.67%) and state education increased $0.08 (6.67%), so of the total $0.95 tax rate increase, $0.65 of that was for education. The last $0.42 was split between the municipal and county, with the town being $0.36 and the county $0.06. Figure in the revaluation and our tax rate ended up going up 95 cents.

These tax increases on the town level are pretty easy to stop. Town meeting sets the rate in most towns around here. Go to town meeting and vote against increases. It's pretty simple, if enough people vote this way, taxes won't go up. Tax rate does not matter, it is adjusted every year based on what the town meeting voted to spend, divided by the total RE valuation per 1000. What matters is every little (or large) increase in spending approved, that amounts to a cup of coffee a day or more, those add up.

Exactly!! Perfectly said. But they need to vote for school budget too, as well as town.

SB2
Solves all of this crap.

Many cannot sit for hours listening to all sorts of people babbling at the microphones.

SB2. All day voting. Walk in. Vote. Walk out.

Simple.

Elder years
 

I guess a lot depends on the next generation, if there is one, and what their desires and abilities are. Absent the kids being a solution, I think of two ideas that may apply.
1. Reverse mortgage
2. Sell or donate the property with a retained residency clause

Handled properly, either of these might give you a lump sum of cash and minimal overhead costs going forward.

Back to taxes:
My experience many years ago as a selectman was that the BOS has considerable flexibility in working out taxes and property seizures/sales. Town and City Councils have less flexibility due to charters.