Waterville continues to impose the highest property tax rate in Kennebec County. The property tax burden is so onerous that new home construction in Waterville is mostly non-existent. High property tax is an especially heavy burden on elderly home owners that wish to age in place. Ageing in place may be the only option for them because the cost is a fraction of assisted living and nursing home costs.
“…Gov. Paul LePage has proposed to reduce, and then eliminate municipal revenue sharing, a decades-old program that allocates 5 percent of state sales tax revenues to municipalities in recognition of the services they provide. Cuts to - or elimination of - revenue sharing especially hurts service-center communities, (Like Waterville) home to social services, retail and nonprofit entities used by people who live beyond the host community’s boundaries and don’t directly pay taxes to support the infrastructure they require.” (BDN)
Waterville is a service center for at least eleven surrounding small towns. These towns rely on Waterville for health care, retail stores, a full service airport, a major railroad center, hotels, restaurants and parks and recreation but don’t support the infrastructure they use. And, Waterville has more non-profits per capita than many other cities in the county; Maine General Hospital, Inland Hospital, Colby and Thomas colleges, to name a few.
One or both of two solutions could alleviate the inequitable tax burden on Waterville home owners. The first would be to impose a property tax on large non-profits in the city.
While new home construction seems almost non-existent, large non-profits are heavily involved in new construction indicating their financial ability to pay a property tax. Non-profits are enjoying prosperity while home owners are struggling.
The second would be to enact a local option sales tax that would require legislature involvement.