Property Taxes Going Up in Concord, Penacook

CONCORD, NH — Property tax rates are increasing in the city of Concord with Penacook residents seeing higher increases due mostly to large increases in the Merrimack Valley School District budget, according to city officials. The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration confirmed the city’s final property tax rates for 2016 which increases assessed values by about 2 percent for fiscal year 2017, according to a memo from Brian LeBrun, the deputy city manager-finance, and Kathryn H. Temchack, the director of Real Estate Assessments.

The city’s market value increase in assessed valuation by 1.58 percent, meaning that a property valued at $250,000 was increasing by a little less than $4,000 in valuation.

Using the on average valuation figure, properties in Concord will increase by about $191.80 this year – a little less than 3 percent – for an average tax bill of around $7,000 annually. In Penacook, the increase is doubled – about $401 this year – or a little less than 5 percent or around $8,470.

It was noted that there was an “increase in overall valuation, an increase in real growth, net of abatements, and an increase of exempt property now being classified as taxable, of $77,436,608,” according to the memo.

The large differences are due primarily to increased school taxes, according to the data.

The Concord School District increased its taxes by 55 cents per $1,000 assess value or 4.53 percent; Merrimack Valley increased taxes by $1.26 per $1,000 assessed value or 7.3 percent.

Property taxpayers will see decreases at the county level of about 8 cents per $1,000 assessed value – a less than 2.7 percent drop.

The state education rate also dropped for both Concord and Penacook. In Concord, it was lowered by 22 cents while Penacook residents will see a decrease of about 18 cents.

Printouts listing the new assessments as of April 1, 2016, are available for public inspection at the Assessing Department, the Concord Library, and the Penacook Library and on the city’s website. The assessments may be found at concordnh.gov or vgsi.com; click on Assessing and then click on Assessing Online Data Bases.