Commonly
Asked Questions
What is the basis for my assessment?
RSA 75:1 states that “the selectmen shall appraise all taxable
property at its full and true value in money.”
The court has interpreted “true value” as “the market value or the
price which the property would bring ina fair market after reasonable efforts
have been made to find the purchaser who will give the highest price for it.”
RSA 74:1 states that “The
selectmen of each town shall annually, in April, make a list of all the polls
and take an inventory of all the estate liable to be taxed in such town on the
first day of that month.”
Therefore,
the assessment of real property is based on the market value of the property as
of April 1 of the tax year. Who
sets my taxes? The amount of your tax bill depends on two
factors. The first is the assessed value of your property, which is the
responsibility of the assessor’s office. Assessments are based on market value
as of April 1st of a given year. In 2005, assessments were based on value
as of April 1, 2003. The second is the tax rate, which is
expressed as dollars per thousand. There are four tax rates that your property is subject to: the
town tax rate, the local school tax rate, the state education tax rate, and the county tax
rate. The
Department of Revenue Administration determines the tax rates each year based on
the budgets required for the town, the school, and the county, and the state
education tax.
Each rate is determined by dividing the amount to be collected by the total
taxable value subject to corresponding rate. The sum of each of these tax rates is multiplied by your assessed value; that
value is the amount of taxes you are asked to pay.
If you believe your assessment is too high, contact the assessor’s
office. If you think that your taxes are too high, talk to your selectmen or to
your state representatives. Why
do we need a reassessment or an update? Value changes on a continuous basis. However, it does not change on a
regular basis over time, between property types or between neighborhoods.
While one type of property may be increasing in value at a high rate, another
type of property may have stable values or even be decreasing in value.
The same is true of neighborhoods. A reassessment or an update will
analyze each property type and each neighborhood and set values based on its
true value as of April 1st of the tax year. An update of values was performed in 2003. The update used the
existing property data and established new valuation benchmarks based on sales
and market data as of April 1, 2003. It is the plan of this office to perform an update of values for the 2006 tax
year.