Cost of livingin Maine (real estate, assessors, how much)

[marionette912]

I have a couple of questions.

1) How is property tax calculated in Maine?
I live in California and we have Proposition 13. Whatever your taxable amount was the day you bought your property, it remains that same price for the time you own it, no matter the value. Example: if you owe $1,000 your first year, it will always be $1,000.

2) Is it reasonable to live on $2000 a month if you don't have a mortgage? I'm looking at buying a home for under $150,000 and living off grid.

3) What is the tax percentage on pensions?

Thanks!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by marionette912

I have a couple of questions.

1) How is property tax calculated in Maine?
I live in California and we have Proposition 13. Whatever your taxable amount was the day you bought your property, it remains that same price for the time you own it, no matter the value. Example: if you owe $1,000 your first year, it will always be $1,000.

2) Is it reasonable to live on $2000 a month if you don't have a mortgage? I'm looking at buying a home for under $150,000 and living off grid.

3) What is the tax percentage on pensions?

Thanks!

As far as I am aware all of the nation uses a device called a 'mill-rate'. Prop-13 froze property taxes, but they are still calculated using a mill-rate.

I owned a home in California before Prop-13 passed. At one time a group of my neighbors formed together wanting their properties to be worth a higher value. So they did a bunch of beautification stuff. I was on their bad side because I did not want to plant flowers and re-paint. They did get the area looking a little better, and after a couple homes sold, everyone's assessments went up. Then all of our taxes went up, just like they had wanted. Then prop-13 came in and froze the taxes at those higher levels.

In Maine the state sets a mill-rate by county. Then each organized town in that county gets to add onto that mill-rate enough so they can have an operating budget to work with. Each town is different. Some times provide a lot of municipal services, while other towns provide very little. So the mill-rates can be low, or they can be rather high. It is all decided by the towns people, and how high they demand their taxes to be.

My property taxes have dropped the past two years in a row. My taxes in my township are set by the state. If I had a town counsel drawing salaries and spending money, then it is possible that my taxes might have been going up. Many posters on this forum have seen their taxes go up. Their taxes are decided by their towns people and their salaried staff.



I am on a fixed pension. My pension is less than the amount that you quoted. We do not have a mortgage. We would be fine on my pension, not wealthy, but not hungry. We moved here in '05. For our land and our home, we paid less than half of how much your looking at spending.



My pension is fully taxable. Maine has a Standard Deduction and Personal Exemptions, so some amount of your income is automatically not taxed. Only the income above that amount is taxed on the tax-charts. My pension is not high enough to be taxed. Until two years ago, my Dw was only working p/t. Her income and my pension combined was fully taxable, though it was not enough income to be taxed in Maine.

One of the reasons that pensioners come to Maine, is that unless you have a fairly substantial pension. it will not be taxed here.

[marionette912]

Thank you so much!

How do I find the names of towns that are taxed by the state?

[marionette912]

Can anybody recommend good real estate agents?

[namder1]

Depends on where you look, but I have had good results with Realty of Maine.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by marionette912

Thank you so much!

How do I find the names of towns that are taxed by the state?

52% of Maine's townships are Unorganized Townships [UTs] and pay property taxes directly to the state. This group is slowly growing as 40 towns that were once organized have burned their charters to become UTs and lower their taxes.

Organized Towns of Maine have selectmen, tax assessors, clerks, etc, on salary. So they have budgets to paint signs announcing when you cross into each of them, and welcoming you to their town. UTs tend to have a simple square wood post with the town name on the side, provided by the state.

Organized Towns with salaried staff tend to have websites setup extolling the virtues of their town and showing how wonderful it is to pay their higher taxes. UTs have no websites.

When driving you will see signs that tell how many miles it is to the next Organized town, you will never see that for UTs. Some maps don't even show the names of UTs.

In the 70s, the state put together an agency [LURC] to provide zoning/planning for all the UTs. So the counties would not be burdened. In our last gubernatorial election, one candidate promised to disband LURC, and to give zoning/planning back to the local counties. But once in office he reneged on his promise, and merely changed the name of the agency [LURC became LUPC].

I am not aware of any link to a simple listing of all UTs.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I have a list of all LUPC towns and territories. There are over 400 of them. I have never seen it on line, but here is a link to the regional districts.

LUPC Offices

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by marionette912

I have a couple of questions.

1) How is property tax calculated in Maine?
I live in California and we have Proposition 13. Whatever your taxable amount was the day you bought your property, it remains that same price for the time you own it, no matter the value. Example: if you owe $1,000 your first year, it will always be $1,000.

Thanks!

Just need to clarify...

Prop 13 is based on value at the time of transfer plus voter approved measures.

Property value increases are capped at 2% per year...

My property tax is about 1.6% of market value... the voters in my city and county have a history of approving additional taxes above Prop 13...

Only takes 55% voter approval to build or renovate schools.

[marionette912]

Yes, Ultrarunner all of that is correct. I was just trying to be general. My taxes are 1.1% plus any voted in bonds and I have no Mello Roos taxes on my home.
When I bought a log cabin in Colorado, they had a person who drove around checking for any changes or improvements (+/-) on your property and they constantly adjust your tax bill. California doesn't do that, so I was wondering if Maine did as well.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

... the voters in my city and county have a history of approving additional taxes above Prop 13...

Only takes 55% voter approval to build or renovate schools.

Voters in my state have a strong history of approving every attempt to raise taxes.

In 2012 we had three bond measures to borrow at interest, two were for money for water and sewer projects, and one was for road and bridges

In 2010 we had four bond measures. We increased our debt and taxes to pay for 'weatherization and energy efficiency projects'; 'highway projects, harbor and energy projects'; 'economic development and job creation'; 'wastewater treatment facilities'.

Now that we have increased our debt, for the purpose of job creation. It is hard to see how it made any difference.