Lyme
The Selectboard last week issued a request for proposals seeking consultants for a “visioning process” that would collect information on the town’s tax base, infrastructure and opportunities to expand.
The process would involve several meetings where Lyme residents could weigh in on whether commercial development or higher density residential units would be welcomed.
“Lyme essentially has to make a choice,” Nils Johnson, chairman of the town’s Community Development Committee, said on Monday.
People can either choose to preserve the town as it is and watch taxes rise, he said, or they can choose a future where some offices, condominiums or storefronts also contribute to the tax base.
Much thought has recently been given to Lyme’s property tax rate, which Johnson said could lead some residents to move elsewhere.
In 2016, the town’s tax rate stood at $25.46 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. That amounts to a roughly $10,100 tax bill for a property valued at $400,000.
But as tax increases continue to average 4 percent yearly, that bill could double in the next 17 years, Johnson warned.
Taxes also rely on too few properties in Lyme, he said. Roughly 94 percent of the town’s land is either taxed at lower rates or exempt from taxes altogether under the state’s conservation and current use programs, which allow property owners to pay fewer taxes in exchange for not developing land.
Those two issues led the Selectboard to form the Community Development Committee last year, said Selectboard Chairwoman Sue MacKenzie.
The committee is partnering with the Lyme Planning Board to commission the visioning process, which is also expected to contribute to the town’s Master Plan.
“There’s a great deal of uncertainty,” MacKenzie said of residents. “People are leaving town now because they cannot afford the taxes.”
Consultants will be expected to examine whether development can be consistent with community values, keeping the town rural while also contributing to taxes, Mackenzie said on Monday. She estimated that about $400,000 in additional revenue will be needed to counter future tax hikes.
After the visioning is complete, results will be presented to voters, who will ultimately determine Lyme’s standing in the Upper Valley, Mackenzie said.
“This is not sustainable for a lot of folks in town,” she said, adding that Lyme will quickly become a town for millionaires if the tides go unturned.
Voters have supported calls for economic development in the past, and approved a warrant article in March that expanded the commercial district to two lots on Route 10. Lyme resident Bret Ryan said on Monday work is ongoing on the parcels, which will partially become office space.
Lyme’s economic woes are also not uncommon in the Upper Valley, where “bedroom communities” outside of Lebanon, Hanover, Hartford and Norwich rely mainly on single-family homes to generate taxes, said Steve Schneider, executive director of the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission.
It’s commercial developments that traditionally contribute more in taxes, while also drawing on fewer town services, he said.
Stuart Arnett, of the Concord-based Arnett Development Group, agreed that communities across the Granite State are asking similar questions in the face of rising taxes.
Arnett conducted an economic study in Lebanon last fall, which found that residential developments commonly contribute to incremental tax increases in the city.
“In my career, I’ve never seen so many smaller communities ask the question of how they could mitigate the persistent rise of the tax rate,” he said in a phone interview on Monday. “Lyme’s not at all unusual.”
Lyme does have an advantage with both the Planning Board and Community Development Community working together, Arnett said.
Planners are traditionally responsible for determining whether to approve proposals, while development committees try to attract projects to town. With both in sync, he said, Lyme is presenting a good offense and defense for residents’ wishes.
Bids for the visioning study are due on May 15. Officials will then pick a consultant in the spring, and a report is expected sometime in September, according to MacKenzie, the Selectboard chairwoman.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.