SOUTH PORTLAND — A letter informing residents of an impending citywide property revaluation that could increase tax bills prompted some to express frustrations during South Portland City Council’s April 6 meeting.

The letter from City Manager Scott Morelli on March 22 said that the finalization of the revaluation could cause residential property owners to see tax bill increases of 10 percent, 20 percent or 30 percent if the mill rate of the city budget were to remain flat.

“This process has been underway since 2019 to update residential and commercial property citywide as required by state constitution and the law,” Morelli said on April 6. “This is an administrative function by the assessor who is an agent of the state of Maine and so it’s not really subject to any council vote or part of the budget process. It’s just something that happens.”

Although the process began in 2019, the city pushed revaluations back a year when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Morelli said.

Maine law requires that average sales ratio of a municipality must not fall below 70 percent and all properties must be assessed equivalently, according to South Portland’s website.

The current proposed municipal and school fiscal year 2022 budget totals $69.2 million, a 1.44 percent increase from last year or an increase of $985,444, Morelli said.

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A majority of residents discussed concerns they had about the revaluation during the general public comments section of the meeting.

Resident Eve Raimon said that many in the Angell Avenue neighborhood are retired or preparing to retire.

“None of us that I know of are planning to sell their homes anytime soon,” Raimon said. “We stand to benefit not one bit from the skyrocket of home values. Like my fellow homeowners and renters here, I’m calling on you to take bold steps to mitigate this unreasonable tax increase. The meager homestead exemption doesn’t begin to address the magnitude of this situation. Bolder steps are necessary.”

Diane Romano, who lives on Simonton Street, discussed the impact that the pandemic has had on the community.

“What is more disturbing to us is the timing to this,” Romano said. “And I feel that this is 100 percent the outcome of the pandemic and out-of-staters fleeing COVID hotspots and buying up properties in Maine. Not just South Portland, we just happen to be one of the hottest places, but they’re buying up properties all over Maine and increasing prices that Mainers just can’t compete with.”

The city needs to take steps to push back against what resident David Cekutis said he understands is state mandated.

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“Obviously, going through the pandemic, we’ve seen a real impact to property values residentially because of the desirability of Maine and people from away wanting to come here and live here and driving up our real estate values, and we’ve seen a negative impact on business owners and commercial properties, driving down their properties,” Cekutis said. “The letter from the city manager said as much.”

Lowering the mill rate is necessary to balance the revaluation, said Prudence Bean of Henley Street.

“If you have this massive influx of the value of our property, you have to lower the mill rate as much as possible, but the other thing I think would be important this year is if you could maintain a flat budget so that we’re not getting increases,” Henley said.

Resident Pat Flaherty asked that the city cut the budget rather than letting it remain flat.

In response to general questions, Morelli said the mill rate will go down this fiscal year.

“Because we’re not raising 1 cent more as a result of this revaluation,” Morelli said. “When property values go up, if you stay at the same mill rate, we’re going to collect a whole lot more money, and that’s not the intent of this. It’s just the intent is to assess properties how they’re required to be assessed under the state constitution and state law and subsequent court rulings.”

The final workshop to review each city department’s budget will take place May 4.

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