City Manager Katie Ambrose reports that the Department of Revenue Administration has finalized this year’s tax rate.

The tax rate for property taxes to be billed this December has been set at $25.74 per thousand dollars of property value, a $0.46 increase over the prior year. This represents a 1.82 percent increase from the previous $25.28 rate (per thousand dollars of assessed valuation).

The forty-six-cent increase in the tax rate is attributed to increases in County and State Education rates. The County and State Education tax rates accounted for $0.87 of increases, while the City and Local School tax rates combined for a decrease of ($0.41), which netted the overall tax rate increase to $0.46.

The municipal tax rate breakdown, and related changes, in Rochester’s tax rate are as follows:

• City: $7.74 (decrease of 22 cents from last year, -2.76%).
• Local education: $13.01 (decrease of 19 cents, -1.44%)
• State education: $2.00 (increase of 63 cents, 45.99%)
• County: $2.99 (increase of 24 cents, 8.73%)

The net assessed valuation increased by $16,380,656, or 0.6%. Increases in the net assessed valuations help to stabilize tax rate increases.

The current median assessed value of a single-family home is $213,100 and will receive a tax bill of $5,485, or a $141.00 increase from last year.

Due to issues with the property tax software that are still not resolved, the December 2023 property tax bills will be mailed later than usual this year. The City is working closely with the software vendor to resolve the issue. The original mail date of December 15th, 2023 has been moved to December 20th, 2023.

Bills will be due 30 days from the mailing date.

UPDATE 12/19/2023: Tax Bills will be mailed on December 22, 2023. The City utilizes a bulk mail processor to distribute bills, and the week before Christmas is the peak processing period for USPS. Bills won’t likely be appearing in mailboxes until late next week. Remember, bill balances can be found and paid online at rochesternh.munisselfservice.com/citizens or in person at the Tax Collector’s Office, located in the James W. Foley Memorial Community Center, 150 Wakefield Street.