FRENCHVILLE, Maine – The town of Frenchville is finishing up its first complete revaluation since 1978. This has delayed the town’s normal tax commitment date, and as a result it will hold a special town meeting on Oct. 9 to see if residents will agree to extend the deadline before interest accumulates by one month.
Taxes are normally committed in August, with the deadline set to Nov. 30. But with the revaluation, the town will not be able to commit taxes until mid-October, and will hold the meeting to see if residents will approve moving this deadline ahead one month to Dec. 31.
Town Manager David Cyr said the reval has doubled the overall value of the town, and that officials are looking at cutting the mill rate in half as a result. Because of the doubled value, the halved mill rate should not result in a significant change in the average resident’s property taxes.
In 2023, the town’s mill rate was 24.8.
WIth the revaluation nearly finished, the town is now in the appeals process. Cyr said they are scheduled to go through appeals with residents from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 26 and 27, and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.
Much of the process, he said, is explaining where these values come from. In some cases, he said a resident might come in because a heat pump is mistakenly listed on their property, for example.
“That’s why we have the appeals process,” he said, “so people come in and make sure that the information we have is correct.”
The special town meeting will also include two budgetary questions. One is for an additional $20,000 to pay for an aeration study, which is part of the town’s project to improve its wastewater system. The other question is for $60,000 to pay for upgrades to 30 sewer manholes on Route 1 beginning just east of the Route 162 intersection. The manhole upgrades will coincide with work being done by Maine DOT on Route 1.
The town also held a public hearing on Sept. 25 regarding upgrades to its stormwater and wastewater systems. The stormwater project involves upgrading Gagnon Brook stream crossings at Pelletier Avenue and Starbarn avenue. It will also address Gagnon brook’s drainage system and Church Avenue’s stormwater system, and where this avenue crosses Dickey Brook and Daigle Brook streams.
The project came about as an effort to prevent a flooding incident in the community. Frenchville has received two $200,000 municipal stream crossing grants for the project so far, and hopes to obtain more assistance to complete the final project, which is estimated to cost roughly $1.4 million altogether.
The wastewater work includes replacing a force main, removing sludge from an aeration basin, and replacing a 30-year-old pump station. The project is estimated to cost roughly $250,000, and Cyr said earlier this month that the town should be able to cover this with funds from DEP and leftover funds from the EPA for two other municipal projects.
The town meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Frenchville Community Center. Officials will meet at the town office immediately afterward to set the 2024 mill rate.
