Raymond residents start to receive revaluation notices

By Erin Rose

Raymond residents have started to receive notices informing them that their property’s value has changed and prompting concerns about an increased property tax burden, but town officials urge caution as the ultimate tax rate is still to be determined.

Raymond residents are receiving notices that their property's
value has changed, but town officials say the town's ultimate
tax rate has yet to be determined. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE 

The town conducted a reassessment of properties in the municipality, determining their value based on the land’s current status, including size, condition, location, and features. The valuation also considers comparable sales of nearby properties. The data is used by officials to determine the entirety of taxable property in the town and establish the tax rate, also known as the mill rate, for the upcoming fiscal year.

“People should not assume that if their property value doubled, that their taxes are going to double,” said Curt Lebel, Assessor’s Agent for Raymond. “That’s not the case. In the end, we’re going to have more than double the property value with which to distribute the property tax, which is going to move that tax rate down.”

Many residents’ assessments went up significantly, representing the change in property values in the period since the last revaluation was completed in 2005. The process of establishing a current value enables the town to redistribute the existing tax base to ensure that property owners are paying an equitable share of the overall tax burden.

“What it does is change how that tax pie is sliced, so it reapportions individual taxes according to market value,” Lebel said. “It resets equity and redistributes the tax according to the Maine constitution. It reshuffles how much of the tax burden each property is going to absorb.”

Concerned residents are encouraged to review the details provided in the letters informing them of their updated property valuation, as those details will have a significant impact on their taxes once the tax rate is established.

“We’ve asked residents to look at their property cards to make sure the information is correct, to look at their comparable neighbors to make sure they fall in line with them, and to look at the actual sales in the marketplace to be able to get a sense as to what similar properties in their area are selling for,” Lebel explained. “It’s going to be one of the drivers of their tax, so we want that value to be right. What the tax ramifications are, that will come later. The first thing to do is to say, ‘is the value reasonable given the current market and what other people are paying?’”

As a Raymond resident of 35 years, Laurie Wallace said that property values have changed significantly in the time since the last reassessment, especially after COVID-19, and the updated valuations reflect that.

“I think it is something that is long overdue, and we’re paying for that in a big way,” she said. “It’s been 20 years since the last revaluation, so of course values are going to feel significantly higher.”

While many residents fear a major increase in their property tax bill, the evaluation will not necessarily mean an increase in their annual payment. The reassessment is the first step in the process of determining each property owner’s fair share of the town’s overall tax burden.

The revaluation was done by KRT Appraisals, a Massachusetts mass appraisal firm based in Haverhill, and one that has completed such reviews in almost 30 different communities in Maine. The firm was selected through a Request for Proposal process that invites businesses to submit bids for services to be provided to the town.

“They actually worked on revaluations with Vision Appraisal in the last tax cycle,” Lebel said. “The appraiser who is doing the appraisals for Raymond this year did the appraisal work in 2005. He’s familiar and even has his materials from 20 years ago, so he didn’t come in blind. They knew the town coming in and had a good base of knowledge.”

Once KRT has finalized the valuations, expected to be completed in September, they will be issued to the town, and the Raymond Select Board will then calculate the tax rate for the 2026-2027 year. In late September, tax bills will be issued to residents, with the first payment being due on Monday, Nov. 2.

The town’s tax rate is developed though a simple calculation. The portion of the municipal budget that is funded through the payment of property taxes is divided by the town’s total taxable value, as determined by the town’s Assessors, using the revaluation data, to determine the tax rate.

“At the end, we take the total amount of the school, county and municipal budget that needs to come from property tax, and then we divide that by the total taxable value of the property,” Lebel explained. “That yields a tax rate. And then we apply that tax rate out to the individual property to arrive at their tax distribution.”

Wallace urges residents to wait for the town to establish its next budget and mill rate before attempting to calculate their new tax burden.

“I get the concern,” she said “I’m retired and living on a fixed income with my husband. And I’m not panicking yet. There is no reason to panic, and soon enough we will know for sure. If you look at the letter and the town’s website, you’ll see that they even say that this is not your taxes.

She also encourages people concerned about their new valuation to research how KRT came up with that number and make sure that the firm was accurate as to the characteristics of their property.

“KRT is making reasonable efforts to have people speak to them and work with them on those details if they feel something is wrong,” Wallace said, adding that if the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens or the size of the property is incorrect, it will impact the calculations. “It’s a calculation so the data against which they’re calculating has to be right. If you did not allow them to come in, or they came in and took the wrong notes, if there’s an error on the valuation card, it’s worth talking to them about.”

Residents can also use the KRT website to view their value summary, data, and general revaluation information, and can see the assessments of other similar properties to help compare.

“We can’t know everything about every property,” Lebel said. “If there’s things we need to know about a particular property, sometimes it’s good to have the owners come in and give us the layout of what’s going on that particular property, so we can make adjustments.”

KRT is providing opportunities for concerned residents to discuss their valuations with the firm, both over the phone and in person at the Raymond Broadcast Studio on Webb Mills Road. Informal hearings can be scheduled by following the details provided in the revaluation letter or by calling KRT at 855-228-4033 but representatives will not be able to discuss residents’ potential tax rates at those hearings.

The firm used a mass appraisal method to use data to determine the property values, instead of reviewing each property individually. The analytical tool estimates market value for a type of building, such as single-family homes “by relating sale prices to property characteristics such as square footage, age, location, condition and lot size” according to a presentation prepared by Lebel’s office. “The model is calibrated using recent verified sales … then applied uniformly across the whole population of properties.”

“I think the model that they’ve created is working really well,” Lebel said, noting that KRT communicates with the town regarding issues that residents are raising during meetings with the firm.

The town was required by state law to conduct the revaluation at this time, as property tax laws require that a town conduct a revaluation if its property assessments fall to below 70 percent of market value to ensure the tax burden is spread fairly among residents. In the 2025-2026 fiscal year, Raymond’s average assessment was in the range of low to mid 40 percent.

“The Maine constitutional requirement that all taxes be apportioned equally according to just value” Lebel said. “The legislature added standards on the statutory level. During the past few years, especially during the pandemic, the market value accelerated quite fast and the assessments didn’t change so we came out of compliance in terms of the assessment ratio.”

Raymond residents with questions are encouraged to follow the guidance in the revaluation letters mailed to each property. There is also additional information listed on the town’s website, https://www.raymondmaine.gov/pages/property-revaluation-project-1. <

Raymond residents continue efforts to block solar project in neighborhood

By Ed Pierce

With a decision nearing by members of the Raymond Planning Board whether to allow installation of a 1MW ground-mounted solar power generation facility on a residential property in the Pulpit Rock Road and Twin Pines neighborhood near Thomas Pond off Route 302, area residents are growing increasingly frustrated and determined to make their opposition to the project known.

A small stream at 30m Pulpit Rock Road adjacent to a
proposed solar farm in a residential neighborhood runs
downhill into Thomas Pond in Raymond. Residents are
concerned that runoff from the proposed solar farm could
harm wildlife in the stream and damage nearby vernal pools.
COURTESY PHOTO 

Laurie Wallace, whose property abuts the proposed solar project said a lot has happened in the past month including two Maine Department of Environmental Protection permits being requested by the project applicant, one for stormwater and one for environmental approval. Project abutters have retained an attorney, and a complaint has been filed with Maine DEP regarding the clearing of trees inside of vernal pools and wetlands on the proposed project property and it remains unclear who arranged for the timber harvest, the lot owner, or the project lessee.

Wallace said concerned residents discussed some of their objections to the project at the Raymond Select Board meeting on Feb. 13 and that included environmental concerns and placement of such a project in a residential neighborhood. The group requested a town moratorium on ground-mounted large solar projects but the select board said that was something the Raymond Planning Board could do.

“At the Feb. 13 Select Board meeting, the Code Enforcement Officer gave us three business days to offer ordinance language changes that would protect residential areas and the environment,” Wallace said. “The attorney provided our recommended changes in a timely manner. We added the names of 43 households supporting our moratorium request we collected during those three business days.”

During the Feb. 21 Raymond Planning Board meeting, board members requested more time to evaluate the changes, with the understanding that the public would again be able to provide input at its March 13 meeting.

According to Wallace, during a Planning Board discussion the town is proposing only a single, minor change to the buffer for the project from 20 feet to 50 feet.

“They are not proposing any of the other reasonable changes that we offered,” Wallace said. “It sounds like we will be able to discuss additional ordinance changes at the next Planning Board meeting. It will be too late to enact anything without a special election. There are many Raymond residents from all over the town who are not in favor of both this solar project and the continued use of a vague solar ordinance. We are up against an artificial deadline tied to getting the ordinance changes on the town’s warrant papers for the June town vote. Those we have contacted are in favor of the town slowing down to get the proper language in place. A member of the Planning Board said that it wouldn’t be fair to the applicant to push back on their project because they’ve invested so much into it. The Planning Board is not listening to the concerns of the townspeople. We are getting frustrated by their inaction and their bias towards the solar array applicant.”

Allen Solar, LLC submitted the proposal to the Raymond Planning Board in October and seeks to locate the Mainely Solar facility on Roosevelt Trail on a lot owned by Scott and Aimme Allen with access to the project area through a lot owned by Scott Allen using the existing Raymond Marine entrance to Roosevelt Trail. The project lots amount to 17,817 square feet and intend to occupy about 6.8 acres located within the town’s Rural Residential District and portions are within the Shoreland Zone, Limited Residential/Recreation District.

The solar project will also require approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filling a small 325-square-foot wetland to support project access. The solar company says the property will be fenced and buffers and setbacks will be deployed to minimize visual impact.

Wallace said that acreage for the proposed site is hilly, heavily wooded and filled with vernal pools, critical wetlands and streams that run downhill directly into Thomas Pond.

“It is the habitat of many birds, four-legged animals, and amphibians,” she said. “We support energy sources other than fossil fuels. But placing a commercial solar farm in this sensitive ecosystem can ultimately do more harm than good. Raymond is considering making commitments to an industry that could, if unchecked, harm the pristine environment in which we’ve chosen to live. If this specific project is allowed to move forward, it could set a dangerous precedent in Raymond and the Lakes Region. The Thomas Pond watershed feeds directly into Sebago Lake, the source of drinking water for thousands in the Greater Portland region.”

Research into the environmental assessment report by Watershed Resources Consultants which was paid for by the applicants for their submission excluded part of a wetland that is on both the applicant’s leased property and an abutter’s property, Wallace said.

Because the Allen Solar proposal was accepted for review by the town in October and changes since then made to the ordinance, Wallace said the project should fall under provision of the updated ordinance.

“To that end, we requested a retroactive moratorium by the Planning Board, but they unanimously rejected the request and punted the moratorium initiation back to the Raymond Select Board,” Wallace said.

Raymond Select Board Chair Joe Bruno said concerns about the solar project is an ongoing issue that Select Board members were waiting for the Planning Board to address at their last meeting.

“I have added it to the Select Board meeting for March 12 to discuss again. We are all very concerned about the environmental impact on the waterway,” Bruno said. “The current ordinance went into effect I believe in 2021 when nobody considered that someone would build a commercial solar farm in a residential area. There may need to be some changes to that ordinance to make sure there is enough buffering from the neighbors, and also from the water. Everyone seems very supportive of solar for residential use. It’s the commercial aspect that most have hesitancy with.”

Bruno said the Select Board also needs to be cognizant that the applicant submitted the application under the current ordinance and followed the rules as laid out in the ordinance.

“This is a tough situation that nobody anticipated years ago when the ordinance was written,” Bruno said. “We will do our best to deal with this from a Select Board perspective and also the Planning Board process. The Select Board has to listen to why the Planning Board has moved ahead since this is their charge and not the Select Board’s area.”

Dave Fowler of Mainely Solar says his company followed town policy in its current solar ordinance and has addressed neighborhood concerns.

“Our project meets all of the land use standards that Raymond has adopted,” he said. Given the feedback from the planning board process, we have voluntarily agreed to increase the setback from the abutting property line. While we will be clearing approximately 4.5 acres of land for the solar panels, equal to 2 to 3 house lots, the environmental and life safety impacts will be significantly less.”

Fowler said Allen Solar, LLC has agreed to a 70-foot step back and the project will include a fire suppression system consisting of a 10,000 cistern and a network of piping and fire standpipes and the fence surrounding the project will include multiple gates with knock boxes, allowing Raymond Fire and Rescue to respond to emergencies. <

Raymond residents oppose solar farm installation in neighborhood

By Ed Pierce

Residents living in the Pulpit Rock Road and Twin Pines neighborhood near Thomas Pond off Route 302 in Raymond are hoping the Raymond Planning Board rejects a proposal when it meets in March to install a 996 kWac ground mounted solar power generation facility on a property near their homes.

The Wallace home at 30 Pulpit Rock Road is in sight of the 
fence line of a proposed solar farm project in Raymond.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

Allen Solar, LLC submitted the proposal to the Raymond Planning Board in October and seeks to locate the Mainely Solar facility on Roosevelt Trail on a lot owned by Scott and Aimme Allen with access to the project area through a lot owned by Scott Allen using the existing Raymond Marine entrance to Roosevelt Trail. The project lots amount to 17,817 square feet and intend to occupy about 6.8 acres located within the town’s Rural Residential District and portions are within the Shoreland Zone, Limited Residential/Recreation District.

The project will also require approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filling a small 325-square-foot wetland to support project access. The solar company says the property will be fenced and buffers and setbacks will be deployed to minimize visual impact.

Objections

Laurie Wallace, whose property abuts the proposed project, says that acreage for the proposed site is hilly, heavily wooded and filled with vernal pools, critical wetlands and streams that run downhill directly into Thomas Pond.

“It is the habitat of many birds, four-legged animals, and amphibians,” she said. “We support energy sources other than fossil fuels. But placing a commercial solar farm in this sensitive ecosystem can ultimately do more harm than good. Raymond is considering making commitments to an industry that could, if unchecked, harm the pristine environment in which we’ve chosen to live. If this specific project is allowed to move forward, it could set a dangerous precedent in Raymond and the Lakes Region.”

Wallace said the Thomas Pond watershed feeds directly into Sebago Lake, the source of drinking water for thousands in the Greater Portland region.

Dave Hall, another abutter to the proposed solar farm who lives at 32 Pulpit Rock Road, said this project doesn’t fit in that neighborhood.

“My family has lived in the neighborhood since the houses were built in 1983. What I object to about the proposed solar project is leasing the land for a commercial project does not seem like something that should happen in a residential neighborhood,” Hall said. “The planning board seems to have allowed solar projects in residential zones with no safeguards to protect the surrounding property owners. They did not create reasonable setbacks or other rules that would have kept this project from being planned to have seven acres of solar panels start 150 feet from a person’s house. The property is a watershed of Thomas Pond, just below the project is a stream running into Thomas Pond. We are concerned our property values will go down with an industrial business venture going on behind our houses. The town’s comprehensive plan states that proposals and projects should not impact way of life and property values. When asked at the public forum the planning board said," that is not the basis of decision making. " It seems like it should be. Our neighborhoods are in danger from plans like this. We keep saying this is the wrong property for a project like this.”

Jennifer Danzig also lives in a home which abuts the project. She and her husband have lived there since 1998 and raised three children and says she taught her children to be good stewards of the environment and the community and for those reasons she opposes the project.

“The proposed solar project is a private, for-profit, commercial solar farm which requires clearing 7-plus acres of forest land designated as rural residential located in between Route 302 and the shoreland zone of Thomas Pond. It is an environmentally sensitive area that just isn’t the right location for this project,” Danzig said. “This forested area is the home to many birds, four-legged animals, and amphibians that will be displaced which will impact the local ecosystem. In addition, the proposed site is hilly and full of vernal pools, wetlands, and streams that run downhill directly into Thomas Pond.”

Danzig says without the current acreage of forested canopy in this area providing protection against increasingly severe rain and windstorms that residents there could experience even more runoff and potential flooding.

“The Thomas Pond watershed feeds directly into the Sebago Lake watershed which provides drinking water to local residents, and to the City of Portland. So not only will this project severely impact the privacy and serenity of the Thomas Pond residents, but health and safety issues could arise, and property values could be adversely impacted,” she said. “Many other Maine towns have moratoriums on these projects until more research becomes available regarding all of the unintended consequences of such installations. Raymond Waterways Protective Association states all of the lakes, ponds, and brooks in Raymond are physically connected; consequently, many people in Raymond and neighboring towns beyond those on Thomas Pond could be affected by this proposed project. If allowed to move forward, it could set a dangerous precedent for this type of installation in other rural residential neighborhoods around the lakes in our community.”

Company response

Dave Fowler of Mainely Solar says that his company has more than 22 years of experience developing responsible renewable energy projects across Maine and that the proposed Allen Solar project is a 1MW solar facility that will help ensure that Maine reaches its goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2040.

“Landowner rights are among the most important aspects to consider when developing any project. The town has adopted a solar ordinance that allows the use in the Town of Raymond to ensure those rights don’t burden the neighbors,” Fowler said. “Our project meets all of the land use standards that Raymond has adopted. Given the feedback from the planning board process, we have voluntarily agreed to increase the setback from the abutting property line. While we will be clearing approximately 4.5 acres of land for the solar panels, equal to 2 to 3 house lots, the environmental and life safety impacts will be significantly less.”

Fowler said the field will be mowed no more than two times per year, compared to lawns, which are mowed as frequently as needed and that minimizes runoff.

“We will not be using any fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides frequently used by many of the homes in the Thomas Pond watershed,” he said. “Stormwater from the project’s impervious surface and the existing impervious and developed areas will be captured, treated, and discharged at the same peak flow rate as it does today. To further protect Thomas Pond's water quality, a site-specific erosion and sedimentation control plan has been developed for construction. The seed mix used will be pollinator-friendly and fire-resistant.”

According to Fowler, the project will include a fire suppression system consisting of a 10,000 cistern and a network of piping and fire standpipes and the fence surrounding the project will include multiple gates with knock boxes, allowing Raymond Fire and Rescue to respond to emergencies.

He refuted objections about lowered property values, saying numerous studies show that solar projects of this size do not impact property values.

“At the same time, you can undoubtedly find studies on the internet that have contradictory opinions. There is no study with conclusive findings of adverse impact,” Fowler said. “We understand that there are concerns regarding impacts to the environmental resource. All protected natural resources within the parcel have been identified by licensed professional scientists in accordance with Maine DEP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers standards. The project has been designed to avoid and minimize impacts to these resources to the greatest extent, meeting all local, Maine DEP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rules and standards. The local code enforcement officer, the local civil engineer, and the fire department have reviewed the project. Many abutting lot owners who have expressed concerns, enjoy using the Allen property without verbal or written permission. That is expected to continue except for the 4.5 acres that will be fenced.”

The Raymond Planning Board will meet on March 13 to discuss the proposal. <