WILTON — Property owners in Wilton should begin receiving notices of their new property valuations — along with estimated 2026-27 tax bills — by the end of the week.
At a May 13 workshop, the Board of Selectpersons learned that the town’s overall valuation may double, though the impact on individual tax bills could be minimal.
Assessor Paul Binette and Mike O’Donnell, a principal at John E. O’Donnell & Associates Inc. of New Gloucester, the town’s contracted assessing firm, told the board the revaluation met its two primary goals: aligning Wilton’s assessments with state valuations and increasing the town’s reimbursement for state programs that provide tax relief.
Wilton joins at least 10 other western Maine towns that have completed revaluations since 2022, including Buckfield, Carthage, Farmington, Jay, Livermore Falls, New Sharon, Oxford, Starks, Sumner and Temple.
Binette said earlier — and O’Donnell emphasized at the workshop — that higher valuations do not necessarily mean higher taxes for individual property owners. As valuations rise, tax rates typically fall. Wilton’s current rate is $21.30 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. If the town’s valuation doubled and all other factors stayed the same, the rate would drop to $10.65.
“When we get our assessments up to fair market value, all that other stuff takes care of itself,” O’Donnell told the board.
O’Donnell described the typical reaction when property owners receive their new valuations: “People look at it and go, ‘Oh, my God, my value doubled.’ Then, they take last year’s tax rate, multiply it by the new one and they think their taxes will literally double.”
To ease the shock of higher valuations, Wilton will include estimated 2026-27 tax bills with the revaluation letters. Other western Maine towns did not provide estimates of how the new valuations would affect taxes, and property owners reacted strongly.
As Selectman Scott Landry of Farmington put it, “People were pretty worked up” when they received their letters.
While the estimates are not the final word, they will reflect the most current information available.
The board spent considerable time discussing how to calculate the estimates. Members recommended that Binette factor in projected increases from other taxing agencies.
Regional School Unit 9’s assessment for Wilton is expected to rise 0.27 percent. Franklin County’s budget is projected to increase 10 to 15 percent, Selectwoman Tiffany Maiuri said. Wilton’s municipal budget is expected to rise about 3 percent, Town Manager Maria Greeley told the board.
Maiuri, who serves on the Franklin County Budget Committee, said the committee has spent months debating the budget and the size of the increase with county commissioners.
Greeley said the town sent its annual report to the printer last week, so the spending requests in the warrant articles are close to final, pending action at the annual town meeting.
Binette said he will apply the projected increases to the 2025 total tax figures to produce the estimates. RSU 9 and Franklin County are expected to finalize their budgets this week.
The revaluation’s two goals change Wilton’s total tax liability. To avoid reductions in state reimbursements, towns must fall between 70 and 110 percent of the state’s valuation figure. For 2026, the state projects Wilton’s valuation at $475.45 million.
That projection is lower than what Binette anticipated last fall, when he said the town’s valuation could come in “pretty close to double.” Wilton calculated its 2024 valuation at $268 million; doubling that would be $536 million.
Wilton’s total for 2026 will not be known until appeal hearings take place next month and valuations are adjusted, if any appeals succeed.
The state revalues each town every year, but towns conduct full revaluations far less often — sometimes only once a decade. When a town finally updates its values, it often has to catch up to a state figure that has risen year by year.
Another complication is that the state and towns use different methods. The state relies on a single measure, totaling the prices of properties sold during the year and using that figure to project the town’s overall valuation. Towns, by contrast, use three measures: market value, replacement cost and the income a property can generate.
After Wilton’s revaluation notices are mailed, property owners may schedule appeal hearings. The hearings are set for June. Although letters are going out this week, Greeley said “delays could very well happen” in getting them to property owners.
O’Donnell told the board that Wilton’s valuations “are, on average, 52 percent of fair market value.” That level triggers major reductions in state reimbursements. For example, the homestead exemption is $25,000, but the state cuts its reimbursement by 1 percent — $250 — for every percentage point a town falls below 70 percent of the state’s valuation figure.
For 2025, Wilton stood at 69 percent of the state valuation. The penalty for undervaluation is even larger for tree growth reimbursement, though it does not apply until a town drops below 70 percent.
Binette is expected to set the final tax rate after the hearings.
Wilton’s annual town meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, June 22, at Academy Hill School.
Correction (May 28): An earlier version of this story misreported Paul Binette’s job title. He is Wilton’s assessor.
