Property Taxes in Cities near Portland ? (South Portland, Scarborough: sales, real estate, assessors)

[NewToNE]

Hello all,
I posted here a few months back asking about property taxes, but circumstances have changed, so I'm back to pick the brains of you helpful "Mainions" ? "Mainonites" ? , "Mainiacs" ?....not sure what you all call yourselves ?
I'll be moving to Maine from the West Coast to attend law school in Portland.
I have a son who will be entering the high school, when we move there. But I think we've decided on private school, either Chevurus or Thornton (would love to hear opinions on either of these schools, if anyone would like to throw their two cents in! )
Given that moving to a town where the school district does NOT matter, my biggest concern is PROPERTY TAXES ! That's the scariest thing about moving to NE for me.
I'll like to get an idea about where the most " fiscally conservative " towns are in / near Portland are.
I other words, which of the towns (if any) are waking up to understand the money, in fact, does not grow on trees ?
Do ANY such towns even exists?
I'm not concerned with "culture" or what any town has to offer in terms of "extras".....I just want to pay the MINIMUM in property taxes....AFTER law school, I might be be to afford "culture", right now, it's all about the bottom live...writing that property tax bill every year...
So, bottom line:
1) Lowest taxes
2) Fairly close to Portland (20 mins drive max)
3) What are the "TRENDS" from different towns...are they leaning left (I can't afford left) or right in terms of finances.
3) Getting into a "quality" school district NOT a factor to consider
4) "Cultural" aspects are NOT factors to consider

Thank you all so much !
PS: As a former real estate agent, I'm not looking for real estate agent referrals. Thanks ! :-)

[atrixwolfe]

Hi,

Attached is a link that shows the property tax rates for the towns around Portland:
Local Maine Property Tax Rates | Maine Relocation Services
This list seems to be a year behind. I'd suggest pulling up a map to compare.

Looks like Scarborough or Saco might be good choices for Lowest rates and being close to portland.
Its hard for one person to answer the fiscally responsible question unless some one was involved in each town. You could go to each towns assessors page and read about where the money goes.
Just by looking up a few....almost 80% of the money goes to the schools 15% to maintain municipal items and 5% to the county. Keep in mind Municipal pays Police, and road maintance and town park upkeep. I can only speak to my town as being fiscally conservative I can't speak to others but I rarely hear news reports of wasted town funds....state funds yes.
My town's (Cape Elizabeth) mill rate at 15.18 (per thousand of assessed value) where 11.10 goes to school 3.48 to the municipality. Is fairly reasonable compared with some of the others and almost $1 per thousand less than neighboring S. Portland. While the tax bill seems high to me I think they make good use of it, The majority goes to education and the municipality need to maintain roads repair salting & sanding, a first class park a police force, fire & EMS library services and a community center. Watching the occasional town council meeting on Public access they seem conservative and reasonable.
As for Thorton or Cheverus, they are both good schools with good reputations. Although some of our town schools have a better reputation particularly for getting students into good colleges. But in this case its splitting hairs. As a Saco resident students automatically go to Thorton, meaning some of your tax money would go there and you would support your school with your tax dollars.
Good luck and I hope you find what your looking for.

It would be good if others could report on their personal perspective and mil rates of their perspective towns.

[NewToNE]

Thanks "ATrixWolfe", helpful...as always ! :-)

[diablogun]

The lowest rates I think will be in Raymond and Casco. Scarborough has higher property values so you will pay more than you will with a higher rate but lower values elsewhere.
Maine is expensive for property taxes, at least around here, unless you want to buy a mobile home and cheap property somewhere.

[MRVphotog]

Realistically, if your " 20 min max " is not expandable then there are not alot of options. The good thing about the law schools location is it's just a few blocks from the I295 Forrest Ave exit.

From Cumberland, I took my daughter to school at USM, which is where the law school is located and 20 min worked when everything worked. Usually it was 30 min.

Westbrook is definately within range, just up Brighton Ave(Rt 25) but not Gorham. Yarmouth can work, parts of Falmouth too, maybe Freeport. Parts of South Portland can work, Cape not likely, Scarborough no way, Raymond and Casco definately not. If 30 minutes is workable than more areas will work. I was a snowplow driver for two winters and worked in all these areas.

[deerislesmile]

Mainers.

[atrixwolfe]

I think what the OP is looking for is feedback on how fiscally responsible various towns are in the area.

I can remember when I lived other places Such as NJ, FL & AL This was a big deal. In AL where I paid a 1/4 of the property tax I do here, there where issues constantly in the news about waste such as millions allotted to building a city Jail that was never getting completed and contractor getting paid for work they never did. I've not seen these types of stories in the news or in my local community news papers. On a state level seems to be where there are some waste issues and news stories. Other than a recent news story of a bookkeeper embezzling city funds (I can't remember where).

NewToNE, I think one of the reasons your not seeing responses to this question is because Mainers are a frugal bunch by nature. Yes our property taxes are high, but our sales tax is low in comparison to other states 5%. The taxes all seem to go to schools and road maintenance and municipal upkeep. We are small towns with active participation in town meetings. My town Cape Elizabeth has comparatively low taxes based on the link I posted in my previous post and the big debate lately is should we build a new Library? The old one is pretty rough shape its a valid proposal.

Bottom line Mainers as a general rule are careful with their money, they are a vocal bunch and they invest in education. On a state level they can be pretty generous with public assistance and this is where fiscal responsibility issues are. I think when you come here and study you'll find its a different place at the town level. At least I hope so. So get on line and find a house you like and go for it!

Does any one have any specific fiscally irresponsible stories or information from the towns surrounding Portland?