Gilmanton tax rate up 3.5%, with increase to local school portion

GILMANTON — The town tax rate has been set to $15.25 per $1,000 of assessed value, which is a 3.45% increase over last year, despite the town portion dropping 2%.

The local school rate’s increase of 5.9% from $9.48 to $10.04 was the driver, according to Town Administrator Heather Carpenter.

“Last year, the town voted in a default budget that was higher than the school’s need,” Carpenter explained. “Unfortunately, when they do that, the money gets given to the school and they are taxed.”

There are four components to the budget: the town rate, state education rate, county rate, along with the local school rate that was the driver of the rate increase. The local school rate increased 5.9%, and the county rate went up 4.9%, to $0.85.

The town’s rate dropped to $3.35 from $3.42, and the state education rate also decreased 1.9% to $1.01.

The total tax effort for 2026 is $16.3 million, with the total valuation at $1.1 billion.

Also included is the village tax rate for Sawyer Lake of $1.09. The valuation for Sawyer Lake sits at $105.2 million, and there is a tax effort of $114,639.

While this is an increase, the rate is still far lower than any other year between 2015 and 2023. Between 2023 and 2024, the town’s rate dropped from $15.51 to $9.48, and the total rate went from $23.39 to $14.74, due to a revaluation of properties.

Tax bills were mailed on Nov. 21, and are due on Tuesday, Dec. 23. The bills can be accessed online through eb2Gov.com.