Re: “Portland prepares for first tax revaluation in 15 years” (March 9, Page B1):

Portland’s citywide property evaluation and its concomitant effect to Portland homeowners’ tax bills pose challenges to the already high cost of living in Portland.

Portland has the highest tax rate in Cumberland County ($23.31 per $1,000 assessed valuation). Coupled with possible revaluations of real estate of 50 percent or more, this may lead to large tax increases for many Portland families.

Consider the following example: A property currently valued at $200,000 would pay $4,662 in property taxes per annum. If the property were now valued at $300,000 – not unreasonable given the 15 years since the last revaluation – the tax would now be $6,993! Even if this increase were to be phased in over two years, as suggested in the article, that’s still a significant increase for a working-class homeowner to bear.

Owners of multi-family buildings could be put in a bind. The new Portland rent ordinance limits rent increases to the rate of inflation plus any property-tax increases, and the rent cannot increase more than 10 percent in any given year. If a landlord’s property-tax increases were such that, in order to break even, a tenant’s rent would need to increase more than 10 percent, what would their recourse be? This also raises the question: How would these new ordinances encourage more building of multi-family residences in Portland?

Instead of looking to do a phased implementation of the increase, the Portland City Council should look at lowering the tax rate as a way to help make Portland a more affordable place to live for all.

Samuel Rosenthal
Portland