ABBOT – Waterfront property owners in unorganized territories throughout Maine will see a jump in their 2004 property tax bills to reflect rising market values.

Property owners in organized townships have felt the pinch of such escalating valuations and taxes for the past several years from high property sales.

The increases reflected in this year’s tax bills for unorganized waterfront properties will be the first in a number of years to reflect those same rising values, a state official said Wednesday.

“Waterfront values in the unorganized territories will be going up 15 percent to 60 percent depending upon which lake it is and what the market is doing in the area,” Bob Doiron, supervisor of unorganized territories property tax division of the Maine Revenue Services, confirmed Wednesday.

Doiron said that almost all properties in the unorganized territories were increased last year, but noted that this is the first time in several years that waterfront property values have been increased in response to the market.

To determine the new valuations, the state reviewed recent sales of similar properties and then estimated what properties most likely would sell for in a competitive marketplace.

“We hope the new values are bringing us near the market value,” Doiron said. “Our main concern isn’t necessarily hitting 100 percent but getting the different classes of property [in the unorganized territories] in reasonable equity.”

Because waterfront properties have been undervalued, other property owners in the unorganized territories have been carrying the weight, he said.

Even with the increases, Doiron acknowledged that there is a big difference between the tax rates for waterfront properties in unorganized territories and those in organized townships. Each county that has unorganized territories has its own tax rate based on the services provided. This ranges from a low in Lincoln County of $5.56 per $1,000 valuation in 2003 to a high of $10.21 per $1,000 valuation last year in Franklin County, he said.

Aside from the valuation issues, the taxes in unorganized territories are low because there is more acreage to draw taxes from, Doiron explained.

As an example of the differences between the two, there are a handful of property owners on Whetstone Pond in the Piscataquis County town of Abbot who will pay the town $14.60 per $1,000 valuation in 2004. The remainder of the waterfront property owners, who live in the unorganized territory of Blanchard, will pay the state about $8 per $1,000. The 2004 tax rate for the unorganized territories has not yet been committed, but according to Doiron, residents paid $7.57 per $1,000 valuation in 2003.

The gap in those figures doesn’t trouble Doiron, who said that as supervisor of the unorganized property tax division, he primarily is concerned with equity among taxpayers in the unorganized territories.

Doiron said that some property owners will not be happy with the new valuations, but he expects the majority will understand the need for the increase.

And the market may continue to demand further increases, he said.

“The market is so hot, the values we put on this year may not be adequate in the next couple of years,” Doiron said.