WILTON — By next autumn, Wilton property owners should have received new property valuations and tax rates. What remains to be seen is whether the revaluation now underway will cause an uproar similar to those in other western Maine towns.
Paul Binette, the town’s assessor, hopes not. But he could be whistling in the dark.
“Double,” he said, when asked how he expects Wilton’s property values to increase following the townwide revaluation. “Pretty close to double.”
That does not mean everyone’s valuations or property taxes will double. But it does mean the total value of real estate in the town will roughly double from its current $268 million.
Binette said that as valuations rise, tax rates are expected to fall, though not always enough to offset a valuation increase. Since town, county and school costs are rising, Wilton may see a lowered tax rate that does not entirely offset the valuation increase.
Binette said the letters going out in Wilton will detail any changes. He described the process: The assessor’s agents visit every property in town and collect information about such items as flooring (7% of the value), furnace (8%) and so on. The information is recorded and screened at the Town Office.
Then, Binette vets each property record to try to ensure the new valuations are accurate and fair. Then, the valuations go out. And Binette sets the property tax rate, often called the mill rate.
Wilton’s current tax rate is $21.30 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, so if total valuation doubles, the tax rate would need to fall to $10 or $11 to hold the line on tax bills.
Wilton follows at least 10 western Maine towns that have undergone revaluation since 2022: Carthage, Temple, Jay, Livermore Falls, Farmington, Starks, Sumner, Buckfield, New Sharon and Oxford.
In Farmington, which is next to Wilton, the total valuation rose by 125% — or 2¼ times.
“People were pretty worked up,” Farmington Selectman Scott Landry said of the new assessments.
Binette said he hopes what happened in Farmington will happen in Wilton. The Select Board cut the tax rate Oct. 14 to $9.81 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. It had been $21.45. And it changed its fiscal year to July 1 through June 30, beginning in 2026. That allows the town to set its tax rate after the state valuations come out. The $9.81 tax rate is for the first half of 2026.
On July 1, the tax rate will be up for consideration for 2026-27.
As Landry put it, some property owners’ taxes rose, some fell, some stayed roughly the same.
Maine’s property tax manual sets out three ways to establish assessed valuation: market, cost and income. But the devil lies in the details.
The term “assessed valuation” is the devil. Here is one detail: The state uses only market price, totaling all real estate sales from the prior year. It does not consider cost or income, even though town assessors are expected to evaluate those as well.
The state of Maine expects a town’s valuation to fall between 70% and 110% of its market price valuation. And it adjusts reimbursements when towns fall outside those limits.
Two key reimbursements are the homestead exemption and the tree-growth program.
In the case of the homestead exemption, the state deducts from its rebate 1% ($250) for each percentage point that a town falls below the state’s valuation figure.
In Wilton, the total valuation in 2024 was 73% of the state’s number, or 27 percentage points below the state figure. That came to $18,250. For 2025, Wilton is at 69%, so its reimbursement fell to $17,250.
The state’s stick is much bigger in tree growth, but it does not kick in until a town is less than 70% of the state figure. In rural towns, which often have much land in the tree-growth program, that penalty can be huge. In 2025, Wilton is at 69%.
Who makes up the difference? Wilton’s taxpayers.
The revaluation could bring the town and state valuations closer, which would raise Wilton’s refund for each homestead to something closer to the $22,500 maximum, and the town would not be penalized for falling below 70% on tree growth.
Binette said he hopes to minimize or even eliminate the blowback that hit other towns when a new valuation came out. The system is complex, but it is transparent and available to anyone.
The state’s 184-page manual on assessment includes all the devil’s details and is available online.
Binette warns, however, that the manual is “not very exciting reading.”
