Trouble with a capital T, which stands for Tax

With Casco’s recent completion of a full property revaluation and tax bills set to arrive next week, waterfront property owners in that town will no doubt experience what several towns around the Lakes Region have already experienced: shock with their new values and frustration with their town leaders.

Some in Casco, especially a vocal segment who have attended recent Board of Selectmen meetings regarding the revaluation, are facing serious financial issues as a result of their tax increase. Some, who just cannot afford to pay higher tax, may even have to relocate to more affordable locales. This shouldn’t happen, but it will nevertheless.

The brutal reality is that the increase could not be avoided, and residents shouldn’t blame officials for their increased value. The town’s tax assessor is merely doing his job, as instructed by the state, to keep property values in step with the market.

But while it’s tough to find fault with the assessment process, Casco taxpayers are right to be frustrated with town officials who waited 15 years to commence the full revaluation. The past 15 years has been especially significant in the real estate market. Town officials should have kept attuned to changes in the economy and made an effort to revalue in the early 2000s as the housing market rose quickly.

Other towns should learn from Casco’s debacle. Perhaps, rather than waiting 15 years to perform a full revaluation, seven or eight years between full revals should be the norm. It would prevent headaches for all involved, especially town selectmen who take the brunt of the frustration. More importantly, more frequent revaluations would reduce the shock come October and April when residents, some of whom live on fixed incomes, read and weep over their tax statements.

Cyber-protest an unlikely success

If anyone doubts the power of the Internet, let them read the story this week about a Windham college student who electronically protested her college’s decision to change its seal.

What makes the story remarkable is that she led the protest not on the steps of the college library, but on a social networking Web site called Facebook.

In May, Sarah Franco, a senior at Middlebury College in Vermont, learned that the college had redesigned the classical-style college seal replete with Latin verbiage and image of an opened book. In its place was proposed a maple leaf symbol followed by “Middlebury College.” To Franco, the drab design was too much to bear. She came up with a page on Facebook that decried the new design, and to her surprise, more than 800 people signed onto the page to voice their displeasure as well.

College officials heard of the Facebook-based protest and scrapped the new design several weeks ago, opting instead for a slightly revamped version of the original seal.

Franco’s success, made possible by a Web site, shows how protests, they are a-changin’ on college campuses.