As I prepare to undertake the preparation and submission of our city’s budget for the next fiscal year, I felt it important as your mayor to try to provide some information to help residents better understand how you tax dollars are spent. I hope you find the following information useful.

The combined municipal/school budget for the city of Westbrook totals $51.5 million. A total of $22.2 million is raised through sources other than the property tax, such as state aid, auto excise taxes and fees. That leaves $29.4 million to be raised from the property tax.

Last year the city conducted its first comprehensive city-wide revaluation of real estate since 1992. As a result of updating property values to current market value, the city’s total assessed valuation increased from $1.2 billion to $1.9 billion. Correspondingly, the property tax rate was reduced from $23.87 to $15.43 per $1,000 of valuation. Contrary to a commonly held belief, revaluation does not generate more tax dollars for the community. It simply reallocates the tax burden based on updated property values. While revaluation did not increase the total amount of dollars raised through property taxes, it did result in a shift of the tax burden onto residential properties. That is because the market value of homes has increased at a more rapid rate than commercial and industrial real estate since 1992.

Since many residents experienced increases in the amount of property taxes they pay to the city, the question has been posed, “Where do my property tax dollars go?” The accompanying chart and pie graph show what percentage of your tax dollar goes to various programs and services. The median assessed value for a single family home in Westbrook is now $200,600 and pays an annual property tax bill of $3,100. The second chart shows how much that average homeowner pays in property taxes for school, municipal and county services. I hope you agree that the Westbrook taxpayers receive good value for their tax dollars.