Newport's home owner's pocket books hit hard.

Times are tough but they are even a little more tougher for Newport Residents, taxes are up, way up in Newport. Taxes for the year on a 150,000 dollar house are up 375 dollars for a total of 3661 dollars. Those living in a 300,000 dollar home will be paying 7322 dollars in property taxes. This money will be hard to come up with for those on fixed incomes and living paycheck to paycheck. New Hampshire is facing a possible income tax, a possible Obama presdency will mean increased income taxes for those making more than 50,000 a year and rising heating costs are bound to hurt residents.

If you rent don't think you are some how protected, you should expect your landlord to pass on the increased taxes through an increase in your rent.

How will you vote to protect your pocket book?

Cathy


The following piece appeared in the Eagle Times.


TAX RATE INCREASE PEGGED AT $2.50

By AARON ALDRIDGE
Wednesday, October 08, 2008 8:07 PM


NEWPORT - The preliminary numbers for the property tax rate in Newport have been released and according to town officials, taxpayers may see an increase of 11 percent compared to the current fiscal year.

"The Department of Revenue Administration must review everything before it is finalized," town manager Dan O'Neill said Wednesday.

The current property tax rate is $21.91 per thousand dollars of property value. The newly calculated tax rate is up $2.50 to $24.41 per thousand dollars of property value.

For a home valued at $150,000, the total amount of taxes due for the year would be $3,661, an increase of $375.

Although the town portion of the tax rate is expected to drop 10 cents to $8.76 and the state school portion decreased 2 cents to $2.14 compared to the 2007-2008 rate, it was not enough to offset increases in the local school and county portion of the tax rate.

The local school property tax will most likely increase $2.06 to $10.93 per thousand dollars of property value. The increase can be attributed to the first payment on an $8 million bond for the renovations at Richards School and improvements to Towle School and the high school.

At the county level, taxes increased by 55 cents due to a increase in the county budget of about 25 percent. The new county portion of tax rate is projected at $2.57 per thousand dollars of property value.

O'Neill said the town portion went down because voters defeated the proposed budget in May forcing the town to operate under a default budget.

"Typically you'll have level funding when there is a default budget," O'Neill said. "I hope people keep that in mind next May when they vote. We've had default budgets two years in a row."

The net valuation of the town showed a slight increase compared to last year rising from $483 million to $487 million.

O'Neill said that once the town finalizes the tax rate with the DRA, the property tax bills will be mailed out.

"My goal is to have them due in early December," O'Neill said.

Aaron Aldridge can be reached at (800) 545-0347 ext. 139, or by e-mail at aaldridge@eagletimes.com.