The Assessing Department is responsible for:

• Taxable properties
• Revaluations
• Appeals
• Exemptions
• Deferrals
• Abatements
• Credits
• Maintaining tax cards
• Maintaining Records of Property Transfers
• Preparation of tax maps

The Assessing functions are performed by the Assessing Clerk, the professional Assessors and the Board of Selectmen.

In additon, the Clerk for Assessing processes timber intent to cut and excavation permits, calculates timber tax and excavation tax; and prepares invoices.

The values of property must be up-dated every five years and must reflect market value (as opposed to actual cost or perceived value). Market value is always based on actual comparable sales of similar properties in Canaan or near Canaan.

Sample Tax Card

Sample Tax Map

WHY HAS THE GENERAL TAX RATE INCREASED THIS YEAR?

There are two reasons:

Higher Costs
Local school, state education and county costs all went up.
School increased 8.5%
County increased 11%
State Education tax increased 7%
The money raised for Town expense actually dropped 10% or $200,000. The other governments increased by $432,000 – The result is a net increase of $232,000.

Lower Property Values
On the average, all properties dropped 11% in value during the past year (reflecting a drop over the past several years). When all of the values drop, there is a smaller tax base to raise the taxes on and the tax rate increases.

Example:
2010 - 200 million tax base and 1 million to be raised equals tax rate of $5 per thousand (1,000,000 (to be raised) divided by 200,000,000 / 1,000 (to get the rate per thousand of value).
2011 – 180 million tax base and 1 million to be raised equals tax rate of $5.55 per thousand The same amount is raised by on a smaller overall tax base so the rate goes up but the revenue is the same.

WHY DID MY TAXES GO UP? or WHY DID MY TAXES GO DOWN?

Your tax bill reflects how your property value compared with the 11% overall drop in value.

If your property dropped less than the average or actually increased in value (such as those around the lakes), your tax bill increased because your property now represents a greater ratio of the total tax base. The opposite is also true. Property owners whose value dropped more than 15% may see an actual drop in their tax bills.

WHY IS MY SECOND BILL SO MUCH HIGHER THAN MY FIRST BILL?

The first tax bill is an estimate based on last year's budget and tax base. The actual rate is not set until November of every year. The Town doesn't receive the amount to be raised by taxes for the County, State and the school until November. Your first bill is usually lower because of that timing. The second bill has to catch up on all of the increases in six months and is therefore twice the increase as the annual tax increase.

The true cost of your taxes for the year is the combined total of the first bill and the second bill. Your first bill for the coming year should be roughly half of the combined total for all of 2011.