Mill rate in Prospect increases 2.38 mills

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The Prospect Town Council set the mill rate for the 2012-13 fiscal year at 27.58 mills at its meeting Tuesday night. –LUKE MARSHALL

PROSPECT — The town’s mill rate will increase by 2.38 mills for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

The Town Council set the mill rate at 27.58 mills for next fiscal year Tuesday night.

The increase in the mill rate stems mostly from the fact that the town had just gone through a revaluation process in which the grand list decreased 5.9 percent.

Town Council Chair Tom Galvin explained the town had to increase the mill rate by 1.68 mills, or $1.3 million, just to make up for the decrease in the grand list.

After that is taken into consideration, the mill rate went up 0.7 mills over the current rate.

The mill rate for 2012-13 means that a family whose house value went down the exact same percentage as the grand list and is now worth $150,000 after the revaluation and will see a $105 increase in their taxes.

However, not every house went down by the same amount as the grand list and the amount that a family will see their tax bill change will vary.

The 0.7 mill increase comes from increases in both the municipal budget and the Region 16 school district’s budget.

According to information handed out at the Town Council meeting, the town’s budget increased by $79,500, which increased the mill rate by 0.1 mills.

Prospect’s education costs increased by $376,000, which equals an increase of 0.48 mills.

There was also a shift in the student population. The percentage of students from Prospect in Region 16 rose from 60.29 percent to 60.55 percent. This shift in student population accounted for $93,500 or an increase of 0.12 mills.

Since Prospect is mostly a residential town, 88 percent of the budget is paid by the residents. This means that out of the $549,000 increase in the budget, the residential share will be approximately $483,000, according to the information handed out.