Wiscasset continues its efforts to collect unpaid property taxes.

As of July 1, the start of a new fiscal year, 22 properties were listed as owing back taxes totaling $201,284. Five of the properties accounted for $126,635, over half of what’s owed. The amount does not include back taxes on the Point East/Mason Station properties.

According to a list of delinquent taxpayers provided by the town office, one owner owes $53,567 in back taxes but makes regular payments of $553. Another owes $3,074 and hasn’t paid the town anything for seven years. Others make random payments on their tax bills.

In response to an email from the Wiscasset Newspaper, Town Manager Marian Anderson stated the 2015 taxes are due to lien next week.

“In that process we send out a 30-day demand notice to let the taxpayers know if the taxes are not paid in full within those 30 days, a lien will be filed against the 2015 tax year.”  

Anderson noted the notices are sent via certified mail at a postage rate of $6.74 along with a demand fee of $3 added to each account.

“When the liens are filed there will also be another certified mail fee of $6.74 for any account that has a mortgage holder and a lien filing/discharging and municipal fee of $48 added to each account,” she continued.

Wiscasset charges an annual interest rate of 7 percent on delinquent property taxes, the maximum interest rate allowable by the state. The town manager stated the interest rate will remain at 7 percent for 2016.

Anderson noted selectmen haven’t given up their attempts at collecting unpaid property taxes on the Point East/Mason Station properties. Selectmen were set to meet with their counsel at 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 26 to discuss what legal options are available to the town. Anderson didn’t know how much in property taxes was owed; she said the tax collector was calculating the number.

In the meantime, Anderson said the assessor's agent has completed the property inspections and is working on the property valuations. She said she doesn’t anticipate knowing what the 2016-17 mil rate will be until the end of August.

The mil rate is the amount of tax per dollar of the assessed value of a given property. One mil is one-thousandth of a dollar, or $1 in tax for every $1,000 of assessment.

Last year Wiscasset’s mil rate was 16.4 per $1,000 on a $100,000 home, a 3.5 percent decrease from 2014.

Property taxes are based on a property’s assessment along with the town’s tax commitment; monies needed for the operation of the municipality and schools, and for Wiscasset’s share of Lincoln County’s operational budget.

Last year selectmen took $1 million from the town’s Capital Reserve to apply to the tax commitment to lower property taxes.

In 2014, Wiscasset’s first year outside of Regional School Unit 12, the mil rate was 17 per $1,000 and property taxes rose 4.6 percent.