PARIS — Residents of Albany Township balking at their tax bills that have jumped dramatically have been told by Oxford County officials the money is required for badly needed road repairs.
Taxes in Albany Township, one of 19 unorganized territories administered by Oxford County in lieu of a local municipal government, rose 17 percent this year. Overall, residents in the unorganized territories were asked to pay 35 percent more than last year.
On Tuesday, resident Jeff Rosenblatt told county commissioners that the 20 or so residents he’d spoken with questioned why taxes had risen so dramatically over the course of a single year when road conditions appeared to be good.
“It’s like a super-land highway up there,” Rosenblatt said.
County officials said Wednesday that they’re stuck between not raising the funds and allowing the roads to degrade further, opening up the possibility that repairs become more costly down the line.
“We respect their concerns. It must be emphasized, however, that without a significant tax increase the situation would deteriorate to unacceptable conditions,” County Administrator Scott Cole said.
Albany is one of three populous townships in the county; the remaining 16 stretch from the southern end north along a narrow corridor bounded by New Hampshire, Franklin County and Canada.
Citing cracked, washed-out and undermined roads that warranted immediate attention, the county requested $1,185,959 from the territories, up some $308,000 from the previous fiscal year.
Almost the entire increase of $300,000 stems from capital improvement projects to comprehensively redo many of the roads in the unorganized territories. Cole said that some of the culverts that needed to be replaced cost $100,000 apiece.
“We’re not doing massive interstate planning, but it’s the same principle,” he said.
The pinch was felt hardest in Albany, with some residents seeing their tax bill jump by as much as 50 percent when new state valuations on property were calculated in, Cole said.
Under the proposed maintenance schedule, the county will grind up old pavement and repave much of Hunts Corner Road, Old West Bethel Road and Vernon Street. In all, for fiscal year 2015 the county plans to fix bridges and culverts on some 60 miles of roads, with 27 of those miles in Albany Township.
Cole said the county’s part of the unorganized territories’ tax rate — about $5 for every $1,000 of assessed property — will likely be sustained as the normal rate as county repair figures estimate $500,000 is needed annually to keep the roads in good condition.
“The capital expenditure has been increased to match the rate of repair with the rate of degradation,” Cole said.
Cole said many of the repairs are long overdue, keeping the tax rate at artificially low levels.
Rosenblatt asked on behalf of several residents if county officials could meet to explain the billing, though no formal date was been scheduled.
ccrosby@sunjournal.com
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