Alna's property tax rate climbed 1.5 mils this year, to $21.80 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The hike follows higher municipal, school and county tabs and decreased surplus and state funds to offset them, selectmen said.

“I think it's an amazing increase,” Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve said at the selectmen's September 20 meeting. “If you're assessed at 200 grand, that's going to be a $300 increase (in the tax bill).”

The new rate got the meeting's attendees talking about several issues, including Alna's vastly residential tax base, residents' ability to impact the Regional School Unit 12 budget process, and the fact it has been a decade since the town's last revaluation.

Two out of three selectmen said they don't favor doing a revaluation now. The town has begun setting aside money for one, but at this point, most of the cost would still have to be borrowed or funded by more taxes, First Selectman David Abbott said.

And while a revaluation can raise or lower the share an individual property taxpayer pays, it doesn't cut the town's total tax burden, board members said.

“I think we should get more money in the pot before we talk about revaluation,” Abbott said. “I'm not really in favor of it right now, anyway,” he said.

“Neither am I,” Third Selectman David Reingardt said.

However, Villeneuve said it was good that resident Chris Cooper brought up the subject. The board should talk more about it and hear what residents think, then decide whether or not to propose a revaluation at the March 2013 town meeting, he said.

“It's something we should consider, because every select board has been pushing it down the road,” Villeneuve said.

Alna's properties are valued at about 80 percent of what the state says they should be, town officials said.

A town's tree growth reimbursement shrinks if that level falls below 70 percent, and is lost entirely when the level drops below 60 percent. Other than that, however, despite “common misconceptions” about the impact of the percentage gap, it does not affect the state funds a town receives, David Ledew, director of Maine Revenue Services' property tax division, said. “There really isn't that connection,” Ledew said in a September 21 interview.

“The reason to do a revaluation isn't to increase state funding. It's to make sure every person is paying more or less their fair share of the cost to run a town each year,” Ledew said.

“Looking at Alna, the individual taxpayer would pay a more equitable share (as a result of a revaluation) … There comes a point when a town needs to re-establish that baseline for everybody (with) a full-blown, professional revaluation.”

Also during the discussion of the new tax rate, Villeneuve described Alna's resident-dependent tax base as “a blessing and a curse.” No one lives near a factory, but about 350 households have to cover the town's bills.

“That's why it's painful, because everybody feels it,” he said.

Residents could influence their taxes by getting vocal about education costs, Fire Chief Mike Trask said. Few Alna residents show up for the school district's budget meetings, he said.

Alna voters can have an impact, Abbott agreed. The town's repeated rejection of the district's first budget a few years ago helped spur some cuts, he said.

“People can sit back and complain, but they've got to get out and get active,” Abbott said.

Trask also urged support for the school district's proposed changes to the cost-sharing formula, at the polls in November. “We need to vote yes for that and we need a big turnout,” he said.

Selectmen renew trash deal with Wiscasset

Board members signed a $70,262 contract for the town's next year of services at the Wiscasset Transfer Station. Wiscasset recently added language Alna had sought, to prevent fee changes during the contract year.

Last year's initiation of per-bag fees for non-recyclers prompted the Alna selectmen's request.