After a full revaluation this summer caused many Casco residents to realize their property tax bills could rise significantly this fall, some Casco residents are left wondering just where their bills are.

Town hall has recorded a message to Casco residents on its answering service, saying that bills will be mailed Nov. 15. Although town manager Dave Morton said the date is only an estimate, and bills will probably be sent out at the end of October or the first week of November. Regardless, some are wondering why they were not notified of the delay.

“I don’t like it because it’s like white knuckle time. Every day, we’ve been going to the post office expecting these high tax bills. That’s bad enough, but then when they don’t come, it’s worse,” said John Krawczyk, who lives on Sebago Lake.

Krawczyk and his wife, Sharon, expect their property taxes have quadrupled because of revaluation. Sharon Krawczyk expressed her frustration with the delay, and said that it falls in line with the town’s “modus operandi of not being totally upfront” with Casco taxpayers.

“Why wouldn’t they have put a notice in the paper, just to relieve the anxiety people have?” said Sharon Krawczyk.

Since the revaluation controversy began, Casco resident Bob Levesque has organized the Casco Tax Fairness Association, which has been vocal about its dissatisfaction of the town’s handling of the 2007 revaluation, which was the town’s first in 15 years.

Levesque said that he drafted a seven-page letter, which he presented to the board of selectmen on Sept. 18. The letter threatened legal action on the part of the Casco Tax Fairness Association, and Levesque wonders if that has anything to do with the delay.

“My guess is that (the assessor) is trying to justify the work they’ve done…If we don’t end up with any significant changes, we will proceed with a lawsuit,” said Levesque.

Levesque added that though he and other members of the association hope changes were made to their tax assessments, he doubts high bills were lowered significantly.

But Morton said that the delay can be attributed to the high volume of reviews O’Donnell Associates, the firm hired to conduct the revaluation, has done for residents who were not happy with their original proposals. Also, he said that printing the bills is time consuming, and that the mailing date originally projected for October was only an estimate.

“My staff was kind of guessing. People don’t like uncertainty, so we’ve been doing phone recordings (on the town hall phone line) and right now it says mid-November. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be that long,” said Morton.

Morton noted that many changes to the original proposals have been made, and that while many residents’ taxes have been raised, a larger number of residents’ taxes have been decreased, and the tax rate has been lowered from $17.80 per thousand of valuation to less than $10 per mil.