City of Portland Set to Conduct Revaluation of Residential Properties for FY26

The City of Portland is set to conduct a revaluation of residential properties over the course of next year, the figures from which will be used to calculate property taxes beginning in FY26.

Revaluations will continue to be conducted every two years until 2031 in order to “help preserve equity in tax assessments.”

The City most recently conducted a revaluation in 2021, and as of FY25, tax assessed values were calculated at 90 percent of market values.

Generally speaking, in order to stay in compliance with State Law, municipalities undertake revaluations when tax assessed values fall below 70 percent of market values, whether that be due to the passage of time or a significant shift in the housing market.

Tied to this ratio are the value of residents’ property tax exemptions — such as the homestead exemption. For example, if a municipality’s property assessment is calculated to be at 80 percent of market value, homeowners are only eligible to take 80 percent — or $20,000 — of the state’s $25,000 homestead exemption.

According to the City of Portland’s revaluation website, the ratio between assessed and market values is projected to drop to 82 percent in FY26 and 74 percent in FY27 absent intervention.

As a result of the current 90 percent ratio, residents will be eligible in FY25 to claim $22,500 of the state’s $25,000 homestead exemption.

Completion of the upcoming revaluation effort is expected in Summer of 2025 and will be implemented beginning in the 2026 fiscal year.

Because Portland has entered into a “multi-year reassessment contract” with Tyler Technologies, revaluations will be conducted every two years until 2031 to “help preserve equity in tax assessments.”

Prior to the City’s 2021 revaluation, residential properties had not been reassessed since 2006.

Since 2019, home prices in Maine have nearly doubled, according to data tracked by the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Those new sale prices contribute to the new valuations of houses that aren’t on the market, which means Mainers who have owned their homes for 20 years or more are suddenly on the hook for paying twice the property tax — even if their income has hardly grown.

“Some property owners may be paying more than their share of property tax and others may be paying less,” the City of Portland wrote. “The reassessment is being conducted to address these inequities and ensure that each property owner pays only their fair share of the tax burden; no more, no less.”

Click Here for More Information on Portland’s Upcoming Revaluations

Many municipalities throughout the state have already conducted revaluations for FY25, causing many residents’ property tax bills to increase substantially, regardless of the degree to which local budgets did or did not increase.

Last month, residents of South Portland were blindsided by the results of recent revaluation that increased homeowners’ property tax bills by double-digit percentages, despite the mill rate decreasing.

The City’s Frequently Asked Questions page revealed that a primary effect of this revaluation was to shift the majority of the tax burden from commercial properties to residential ones, as “commercial property sales…have been outpaced by the residential market.”

“My taxes went up almost 60 percent,” resident Millie Pelletier said during a recent City Council meeting. “I went in and asked for a reassessment. I’m a hundred percent disabled. I do not have a kitchen. My house has connecting bedrooms so it’s not technically a three-bedroom house, and the third bedroom has no closet.”

“The house has been in my family for a hundred years next month,” said Pelletier. “I took the house over. It needed a lot of work, hoping to save it. But now I’m afraid I’m the one who’s going to lose it.”

Another resident — Donna Kane — said that she’s been a South Portland taxpayer since 1987 and has never seen anything like this.

“I’ve had property taxes increased in the past before,” Kane said, “but I was absolutely flabbergasted when I opened up my recent bill and it was 40 percent higher.”

“I talked to my neighbor who’s 90 years old. She was both outraged and said her bill was outrageous because it has doubled,” continued Kane. “And there’s something wrong. There has got to be something wrong.”

[RELATED: South Portland Residents Passionately Address Property Tax Concerns at City Council Meeting]

Similarly in Newcastle — a small town located in Lincoln County — this year’s revaluations resulted in significant property tax increases despite a drop in the mill rate.

One Newcastle resident who reached out to the Maine Wire said their property tax bill increased 51 percent compared to the previous year.

Another resident of Newcastle told the Maine Wire that their property taxes, along with many others, “took a huge jump with no warning.” In their case, their property tax bill increased by 30 percent, rising from about $6,000 per year to $8000 per year.

[RELATED: Sticker Shock — Maine Homeowners Burdened by Property Tax Hikes Following Recent Revaluations]

Bradley — a Penobscot County town with just over 1,500 residents — also conducted a revaluation in time for FY25.

“This is a restoration of equity and not a back-door tax increase. A revaluation has nothing to do with the size of the overall tax commitment; it merely adjusts how it is apportioned,” the town said in a statement posted to their website. “All Bradley properties are valued from the same land and building schedules. No one is catching a break nor is anyone being treated unfairly.”

One Bradley resident wrote to the Maine Wire saying that they have lived in their home for more than three decades and just saw their property taxes increase by $700.

According to a Frequently Asked Questions document posted to the town’s website, Bradley’s assessment ratio was calculated at 69 percent prior to this revaluation. Property values had last been reassessed in 2009.

As of now, it is not immediately clear what the property tax impact of Portland’s upcoming revaluation will be for residents come FY26.

Data from the Maine Listing Service revealed, however, that the median sale price of homes in Portland has risen from $455,000 in August of 2021 to $559,000 in August of 2024, an increase of roughly 23 percent.