The last time Hopkinton homes were assessed, droves of upset residents questioned the accuracy of much-higher appraisals and the tax spike that followed. Three years later, property values have plunged. The town's overall value is down 17 percent. But taxes are not.
As assessors wrap up a town-wide revaluation, they say Hopkinton's tax rate will have to jump more than 21 percent over last year's to compensate for the lessened property values.
That change will be reflected in tax bills due this December. With the rate increase, "you're going to end up paying what you did last year," said Selectman George Langwasser. "Chances are your taxes are going to increase, not decrease."
Why an increase, especially since voters passed a flat budget during March's town meeting? Factors besides the reassessment could play into this winter's bills, including a teachers contract expected to come before voters during a special October meeting and costs that the state passed down to towns, such as administering a swine flu vaccine, said Selectman Scott Flood.
The town is also weighing a plan to put $433,000 toward a conservation easement for a struggling dairy farm in Contoocook, a proposal the selectmen may bring before voters this fall at a cost of $53,000 this year.
But "irrespective of anything going on in town," Flood said, December tax bills always top what residents pay in June. "You have to pay for inflation from the prior year, plus the things voted on in March town meeting," he said. "If the budget's kept flat from '08 to '09 . . . there's still going to be an increase."