CAMDEN — Camden Assessor Kerry Leichtman has concluded the 2024 property revaluation and assessment process for Camden, setting the mil rate at 10.50, down 31 percent from 2023. He is now getting tax bills in the mail. This ends a remarkable assessment year for Camden, whose citizens were astounded in July when they learned that the town’s total property valuation had increased 44 percent, up $743 million from $1,7 billion in 2023 to $2.4 billion in 2024.

Camden, which is 80 percent residential, had hit the $1 billion mark in 2014. Ten years later, it hit the $2.4 billion mark, and the increases affected just about every piece of property in town. 

“Shortly after I started assessing Camden we had just crossed the $1 billion mark,” said Leichtman, Sept. 3. “Ten years later we blew right by $2 billion. That kind of growth is mind-blowing.”

Correspondingly, the mil rate has decreased, as Leichtman had predicted in July.

That is because the total combined appropriations (town, county, school, transfer station) approved by voters at June 2024 Town Meeting did not increase as much as the total valuation increase of the town.

“Why did the mil rate drop so precipitously,” he asked. “Our 2023 taxable value was $1,673,960,985. It is now $2,396,419,168. Camden’s overall valuation grew $722,458,183 in just one year. It is this dynamic market growth that allowed the mil rate to come down as much as it has.”

He said Camden had experienced tremendous growth in the local real estate market between Summer 2020 to the present.

An illustration of that is after the statistical update we did in 2022 our townwide ratio was at 95 percent,” he said. “Just two years later, when we began the revaluation, the ratio was 66%. In this revaluation we brought it back up to 95 percent.”

To set the mil rate, Leichtman added up the various municipal appropriations approved by voters at the June 11 Town Meeting, as well as Camden’s share in supporting Knox County government, the Five Town CSD (Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport ownership of Camden Hills Regional High School), the School Administrative District (Camden and Rockport shared ownership of their K-8 schools) and the Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corporation (Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport).

Those combined numbers then are divided by the town’s total taxable valuation, $2.4 billion. With that figure, Leichtman set the 2024 mil rate.

Appropriations approved by voters in 2024 were: 

Municipal budget: $13,054,140 (this number includes Mid-Coast Solid Waste: $239,025)

SAD 28:  $10,413,961

Five Town CSD: $4,724,206

Knox County: $2,062,017

TIF finance plan: $1,152,296

Total: $31,406,619.94

Those combined numbers were then are divided by the town’s total taxable valuation, $2.4 billion. With that figure, Leichtman set the 2024 mil rate.

However, whether individual tax bills will increase this year or decrease depends on how much an individual property itself increased in value. If the property value increase exceeds the average increase in value, then the tax bill could increase.

Camden’s mil rate has fluctuated over the past decade, and reflects ever-changing expenditures approved by voters.

More recently, the Camden mil rate has been:

2023, 13.20

2022, 15.35

2021, 12.52

2020, 13.63

2019, 14.91

2018, 14.88

“The market has showed signs of cooling in the past two-three months, so hopefully we can get back to the more normal growth of just a few percent a year,” said Leichtman. “But the Fed is poised to lower interest rates, which makes me nervous about things heating up again.”

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657