A Citizen’s Guide for Fair & Transparent Property Tax Valuations

DEADLINES AND PUBLIC PROCESS

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This page lists dates and public processes as published by Maine Revenue Services (MRS) and Maine statute. It does not say whether any owner should file anything or what any filing should contain.

1. Dates

The Town’s FY 2026–2027 real estate commitment is dated 14 July 2026 (the commitment book prints 07/14/2026) at 8.70 mills. Under 36 M.R.S. §841 an abatement application must be filed with the assessor within 185 days of commitment, which from 14 July 2026 is 15 January 2027. The FY 2025–2026 commitment was dated 8 July 2025 at 8.25 mills; 185 days from that date was 9 January 2026. Tax installments printed on the card: 15 August 2026, 15 November 2026, 15 February 2027 and 15 May 2027. The marker below moves with today’s date.

2. The abatement timeline, as the State and the statutes describe it

3. What the Town’s revaluation contract says about hearings and defense

The signed 2025 contract (see the contract page) provides for informal hearings on written request, held by individual appointment with the firm and the Board of Assessors, and states that the firm’s chief appraiser “shall (1) be present at any local assessment appeals following completion of the Project and to defend the values.” The firm assumes the cost of such services for hearings and court actions filed within 185 days of the FY 2025–2026 commitment.

4. Other deadlines on the public record

• Homestead exemption, Tree Growth, Farmland and Open Space applications: 1 April (see the Relief programs page).
• Select Board and Board of Assessors meeting dates are posted by the Town; this site does not track them.

ABOUT THE REVALUATION

The Town of Bridgton retained John E. O’Donnell & Associates, Inc. under a contract dated 14 January 2025 for a 2025 revaluation, for a total of $250,000. The new values took effect on the FY 2025–2026 commitment (8 July 2025). The 2026–2027 commitment (14 July 2026) carries the same schedules into a second year; this site reads the 2026–27 property record cards and tax commitment, and sets them beside the 2025–26 commitment, the 2025 proposed values, the firm’s sales ratio study and the pricing schedules the Town produced under a Freedom of Access Act request.

The revaluation reset a roll that the State had certified at 61% of market in 2024 (Maine Revenue Services Municipal Valuation Return). The mill rate went from 17.05 in 2024 to 8.25 in 2025 and 8.70 in 2026.

How to use it. Look up a parcel; read its review; open the comprehensive analysis if you want a printable packet of the public record for that parcel. The standards pages set the State assessor-training manual (PT103) and the IAAO’s published standards beside how Bridgton’s cards record condition, obsolescence and grade, so each reader can draw his or her own conclusions.

This is a private website. It is not associated with the Town of Bridgton or with John E. O’Donnell & Associates. Not legal advice; not an appraisal.

The sales ratio study, by sub-class

What the study is

Sales Ratio Analysis, Bridgton Reval (Cumberland County), run 29 May 2025: 142 sales, filtered to “BuildingValue > 0 AND Sale Date between 1/1/2024 and 12/31/2025” (121 sales dated 2024, 21 dated 2025; the latest sale date printed is 31 March 2025). Header as printed: Weighted Average 101% (71,194,523 / 70,839,003); Average Ratio 101%; Average Deviation 6 (790 / 142); Quality Rating 5 (6 / 101%). The printed Average Deviation is the same kind of measure as the coefficient of dispersion (COD), shown there as a whole number. This site calculates the figures below, to two decimals, from the 142 printed ratios.

Statistics calculated from the printed ratios

Median is the middle ratio. Weighted mean is total assessed value divided by total selling price. COD is the average absolute distance of the ratios from the median, as a percent of the median. PRD (price-related differential) is the mean ratio divided by the weighted mean. Classes with fewer than eight sales give unstable dispersion figures.

The published guidelines

Sub-classes compared: the firm’s study, the roll, and the State’s RETTD types

Each Bridgton parcel is placed in one sub-class from its card (a frontage line on a named lake or pond means waterfront; a “Condo” land line means condominium; the main building type sets the rest). “Roll” is parcels on the 2026–27 roll. “Study” is sales the firm printed in that class. “RETTD” counts the transfer-tax declarations for Bridgton with a price above $0, recorded 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2025 (the window the study draws on), by the property type the parties reported. The firm prints a class on every sale, including a “Water Access” class that cannot be identified from a property record card.

How the study compares with the transfers on record

• The RETTD file for 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025 holds 865 declarations; 509 carry a price above $0. 294 of those are dated 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2025.
• Of the firm’s 142 sales, 140 can be found in the RETTD file by map/lot and date or by price and date. Two (study items 13 and 61) cannot.
• The study lists sales only; it lists no appraisals of the kind Rule 201 §3(D) counts toward the minimum.
• Mobile/manufactured homes are 220 roll parcels with 2 printed sales; commercial and industrial are 145 parcels with 3. Condominiums are 202 parcels with 18. Vacant land (1,299 parcels) is outside the study by its filter (building value above $0).
• The overall COD calculated here is 5.47, inside the IAAO ranges; the printed Average Deviation is 6. The median ratio is 1.01; the weighted mean is 1.005; PRD 1.003.
• The contract states an average assessment ratio target of 93% to 100% for improved properties; the study header prints 101%.

Sources: Town of Bridgton, Sales Ratio Analysis, Bridgton Reval (J.E. O’Donnell & Associates, 29 May 2025), produced under a Freedom of Access Act request; Maine Tax Portal, RETTD Public Lookup (Bridgton, 2024–2025); Maine Revenue Services Rule Chapter 201. RETTD property type is reported by the parties and does not show whether a transfer was arm’s-length.

All 142 sales in the study

The revaluation contract

This page quotes and summarizes the signed Contract for Revaluation Services between the Town of Bridgton and John E. O’Donnell & Associates, Inc. (signed 14 January 2025; John E. O’Donnell III, President), produced by the Town. The PDF is a scan; the quotations below were read from it by optical character recognition and checked against the page images where they matter, but the PDF on the documents page is the record.

This page describes the contract. It does not say whether the firm met any term; the facts the public record shows on delivery are on the Town-wide findings and sales ratio study pages.

The pricing schedules

The Town produced the firm’s 2025 “Equalization” pricing schedules for Bridgton: building prices per square foot with grade and area factors, base-acre and additional-acre land tables, waterfront price per foot by water body, site-improvement grades and condominium unit values. They are reproduced below from the PDFs on the documents page. The schedules are the firm’s; the State’s assessor-training manual (PT103) is a separate standard.

Base land value by table and lot size

Additional acreage, price per acre (first band, then bands to 300 acres)

Each “Additional” table is a floor price per acre by acreage band (0–1, 1–3, 3–10, 10–25, 25–50, 50–100, 100–200, 200–300 acres).

Waterfront price per foot of frontage, by water body

Site improvements and condominium units

Building price per square foot (selected styles)

Grade factors

The schedule multiplies a style’s base price by a factor for the grade shown on the card. Grade is on a 1–10 scale; the factor steps are:

The grade factors printed in the schedule are factors, not definitions. The firm has published no written definition of what a grade of 1 to 10 is, and no crosswalk to the five grade levels in PT103, so what any firm grade equals on the State’s scale is UNKNOWN. House styles also carry an area factor that falls as size rises (for a 1½-story house, 1.46 at 300 sq ft down to 0.92 at 1,400 sq ft); the full table is in the Building Pricing PDF.

Condition (“percent good”): the standard and the 2026 cards

“PT103” is Valuation of Real Estate, Maine Revenue Services assessor-training course (Chapter 4, The Cost Approach). “IAAO” is the International Association of Assessing Officers. Page numbers are the manual’s printed page numbers. Bridgton figures are counts of building rows on the 2026–27 property record cards the assessor publishes. This page describes; it does not say what any owner should do, and it is not legal advice or an appraisal.

What PT103 says

• Definition (p. 80). “Condition is equal to the value of property after depreciation, divided by the property value before depreciation.” Depreciation is the difference between replacement cost new and market value.
• What it includes (pp. 64–65). Condition is the value of a structure “after wear and tear and obsolescence have been recognized.” Physical deterioration plus functional and external obsolescence together are depreciation. A building with 25% depreciation is in 75% condition. Condition applies whatever the grade: “Grade is associated with construction, while condition is associated with destruction.”
• How it is set (p. 81). By the direct (“breakdown”) method, inspecting the structure’s components, correlated with the marketplace. “Depreciation must be determined by observation, informed judgment, and study in each instance.” The actual physical condition and the structure’s relationship to comparable structures must be taken into account.
• Benchmarks (p. 81). Excellent 90% condition (10% depreciation); Good 80%; Average 70%; Fair 60%; Poor 50%; Unserviceable below 50%, “according to degree of deterioration.”
• Age example (pp. 64–65). A 45-year-old ranch house: recent sales showed about one-half percent depreciation per year, 45 × 0.5% = 22.5%, so 77.5% condition.
• Date (pp. 81–82). Condition is as of April 1. Only past events count; a demolition scheduled for April 2 does not affect April 1.

What the IAAO says

• Glossary. Depreciation is the loss in value relative to replacement cost new from any cause; it is sometimes divided into physical deterioration, functional obsolescence and external obsolescence (quoted in PT103 p. 80).
• Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property. Depreciation estimates should rest on non-cost (sales) data and schedules should be extracted from sales; subjective codes such as grade and condition should be coded correctly at least 90% of the time and objective characteristics 95%; on-site review of property characteristics at least every 4 to 6 years.

Other published scale (not a Maine standard)

The lending industry’s Uniform Appraisal Dataset rates condition C1 to C6. The assessment-manual “CDU” ladders descend from Marshall & Swift. They are listed here because several of them describe each step in words; PT103 gives the percentages above.

Note that the two scales do not match step for step: PT103 puts Poor at 50% and Unserviceable below it; the CDU ladder puts Poor at 40–55%.

What Bridgton’s 2026–27 cards record

Building rows by condition rating, set against PT103’s benchmarks. Bridgton has only the one set of cards (the committed 2026–27 roll).

485 building rows are at exactly 60% (PT103’s “Fair” benchmark) and 228 are below it. The firm has published no written scale for condition percentages in Bridgton. Of the 5,750 parcels, the most common condition on a main building is shown on each parcel’s review beside the distribution for its building type.

Functional obsolescence: the standard and the 2026 cards

“PT103” is Valuation of Real Estate, Maine Revenue Services assessor-training course (Chapter 4, The Cost Approach). “IAAO” is the International Association of Assessing Officers. Page numbers are the manual’s printed page numbers. Bridgton figures are counts of building rows on the 2026–27 property record cards the assessor publishes. This page describes; it does not say what any owner should do, and it is not legal advice or an appraisal.

What PT103 says

• Definition (p. 65). “A decrease in value due to a change in demand, usually because of a shift in consumer tastes or of market standards.” It is calculated the same way as depreciation, on replacement cost new less depreciation.
• IAAO definition quoted (p. 82). A “[l]oss in value of a property resulting from changes in tastes, preferences, technical innovations, or market standards.” It results from causes contained within the structure itself.
• The test (p. 82). Ask whether a similar structure built today would keep all the general characteristics of the subject property in design, size, materials and facilities.
• Curable or incurable (p. 82). Curable: a lack that is easily corrected, such as the need for a second bathroom. Incurable: not economically feasible to cure, such as poor room layout.
• Categories (pp. 82–83). Super-adequacy (a quality higher than current standards); inadequacy (falls short of market expectations: too small, too few rooms, limited facilities, lack of storage); lack of desirability; eccentric design; atypical layouts (poor use of floor area, access to the rest of the home through a bedroom); outmoded equipment (plumbing, electrical outlets and GFI, heating such as a fireplace as the only heat or no central heat).
• No double counting (p. 65). A grade reduction and functional obsolescence should not be applied to the same feature. Manual example: lesser-quality vinyl siding is a grade matter; a single bathroom in a house where new houses have two is functional obsolescence.
• Worked example (pp. 65, 85–86). A basement with six feet of headroom: municipal studies show 10% functional obsolescence, so $116,250 × 0.90 = $104,625. A one-bath house carries 5% in the manual’s later example.

What the IAAO says

The IAAO Glossary defines functional obsolescence as loss in value from lack of utility or desirability inherent to the improvement. The Standard on Mass Appraisal calls for depreciation schedules extracted from sales data.

What Bridgton’s 2026–27 cards record

Functional markdowns on the cards range from 9% to 95%. Most frequent building types carrying a functional markdown: Shed (467), Open Porch (OP) (337), 1-Story (321), Deck (215), Barn (181), Enclosed Porch (EP) (176), Garage (157), 1-Story Frame (156).

9 building rows on 8 parcels carry a functional factor above 100%. The PT103 and IAAO definitions quoted above describe functional obsolescence as a loss in value; neither describes a factor above 100%. The card does not say what such a factor represents. They are listed here as a count; this page draws no conclusion from it.

Economic (external) obsolescence: the standard and the 2026 cards

“PT103” is Valuation of Real Estate, Maine Revenue Services assessor-training course (Chapter 4, The Cost Approach). “IAAO” is the International Association of Assessing Officers. Page numbers are the manual’s printed page numbers. Bridgton figures are counts of building rows on the 2026–27 property record cards the assessor publishes. This page describes; it does not say what any owner should do, and it is not legal advice or an appraisal.

What PT103 says

• Definition (p. 65). “A loss of value due to external factors.” Examples given: the condition of other houses in the neighborhood and the presence of commercial property in an area that was once residential only. It is calculated after depreciation and functional obsolescence.
• Causes (pp. 83–85). Loss arising from causes external to the property, which the owner cannot control: oversupply of equally desirable properties; changes in the character of neighboring properties, such as rezoning for commercial or industrial use (the closer, the greater the loss); a neighborhood’s collective lack of attention to maintenance; loss of a major employer; availability of services; accessibility and road condition; topography.
• Where it is applied (p. 84). The manual says external obsolescence “is usually reflected in the site value, and care should be taken not to apply an external obsolescence to the site value. External obsolescence should be applied to the improvements.”
• Card headings (p. 85). Neighborhood; accessibility; utilities; services; topography; other.
• Worked example (p. 65). A 5% external obsolescence for a retail store built down the street: $104,625 × 0.95 = $99,394, rounded to $99,400. The manual’s later example, an established neighborhood of similar-aged homes, has none.
• Summary (p. 85). It cannot be controlled or fixed by the owner and “often, it has a greater impact on value than other depreciation considerations.”

What the IAAO says

The IAAO Glossary describes external obsolescence as loss from poor location or radically diminished demand. The Standard on Mass Appraisal says an external-obsolescence factor applied at neighborhood or district level should come out of market analysis and be validated by ratio-study performance within each stratum.

Another published view (not the Maine manual)

Longhofer, “Land Values and External Obsolescence,” The Appraisal Journal (2021), argues that an external condition usually lowers the land’s value first, so a building factor on top of a market-based land value can count the same loss twice, and that the structure itself carries external obsolescence only where its current use is not the site’s highest and best use. This differs from PT103 p. 84, quoted above. It is included so readers can see both treatments; PT103 is the Maine assessor-training standard.

What Bridgton’s 2026–27 cards record

Economic markdowns on the cards range from 50% to 95%. Parcels with an economic markdown, by class: Frame house, 1 storey: 10; Frame house, 1½ storey: 8; Frame house, 2 storey or more: 7; Frame house, 1¾ storey: 2; Outbuilding only: 2; Commercial / institutional / other: 1; Multi-family: 1. Most frequent building types carrying one: Bunkhouse (32), Open Porch (OP) (19), Shed (18), 1-Story Frame (13), Deck (11), 1-Story (9), Garage (8), Tennis Court & Fence (7).

13 building rows on 9 parcels carry an economic factor above 100%, which the definitions above do not describe.

Where the factor sits on the card matters under the manual (PT103 p. 84: applied to the improvements, not the site) and under the outside view quoted above (land first). Bridgton’s cards carry the factor on the building row.

Building grade classifications, grades 1–5 (all ten PT103 components)

Grade measures quality of construction. Maine’s own assessor-training curriculum breaks a building into ten components — foundation, basement, framing, roof, interior, exterior, floors, heating, plumbing and electrical — each scored on the same five-point scale and averaged to produce the building’s overall grade. The five grades are lettered A through E and carry the point values A (5), B (4), C (3), D (2) and E (1), running from architecturally designed, contractor-built construction at the top to basic, inadequate shelter at the bottom.

The tables below are the manual’s own component-by-component grading schedule: the physical construction standard an assessor is trained to look for when scoring each of the ten components at each grade level, starting with foundation.

1. Foundation

^*Printed exactly as “Wall, poured concrete 8” 7’” in the source with no separating punctuation; read in context as an 8-inch-thick wall at 7 feet in height, alongside the 7-foot concrete block wall as an alternative Grade 3 wall construction.

Read down each column: the manual lists the construction features an assessor is trained to find present at that grade level, from bare excavation and wood posts at Grade 1 to a full-height poured-concrete wall, insulation, two-sided drain tile and ample finish grading at Grade 5. These are the features associated with each grade, not a strict checklist — the manual does not state a minimum number of items a foundation must have to earn a given grade.

Alternate foundation types

The same schedule separately assigns grade-point values to specific foundation types that fall outside the excavation/footing/wall structure above — posts, sonotubes and frost walls typically used under slab or crawlspace construction:

This is state training material for assessors, not Bridgton’s own cost schedule. The O’Donnell cards used for the 2025 revaluation express grade as a single multiplier (see the Condition & obsolescence guide), and neither the firm’s own grade schedule nor its component-specific criteria have been published for Bridgton. These tables are the state’s own published standard for what a given component grade is supposed to represent physically — a benchmark for comparing what a card claims against what a building actually is.

Source: Maine Revenue Services, Property Tax Division, PT103 — Valuation of Real Estate (rev. February 2026), Chapter 3 “Measuring and Listing,” “Grading Schedules,” foundation through electrical, pp. 50–57 (five-grade descriptions, pp. 41–42). Read the full manual (PDF, maine.gov).

What Bridgton’s 2026–27 cards record

Grade on the card is a multiplier applied to the style’s base price from the firm’s grade-factor schedule (see the pricing schedules). Rounded to the nearest whole grade, the 22,180 building rows are: grade 1: 85, grade 2: 3,089, grade 3: 6,914, grade 4: 10,226, grade 5: 1,254, grade 6: 524, grade 7: 46, grade 8: 41. For the main building of 3,479 houses and camps, the median grade is 3.50.

Site improvements carry their own grade (1–10) with a flat dollar value per grade (grade 3 is $35,000). On the roll: grade 1: 67, grade 2: 365, grade 3: 3,095, grade 4: 362, grade 5: 113, grade 6: 35, grade 7: 18, grade 8: 8, grade 9: 4, grade 10: 2 (parcels).

What any firm grade equals on the State’s five-level scale is UNKNOWN: the firm has produced no written definition and no crosswalk.

Condition, functional obsolescence and economic obsolescence — what they mean

Every building value on the Bridgton roll is one multiplication: base cost (the firm’s price per square foot for the style, times area and an area factor) × grade factor × condition × functional obsolescence × economic obsolescence. The State’s manual (PT103) treats condition as the combined result of physical wear and the two obsolescences; a Bridgton card shows them as three separate percentages. The pages below set PT103 and the IAAO standards beside how Bridgton’s cards record each one.

Open: Condition · Functional obsolescence · Economic obsolescence · Grade.

Building rows tallied on this site are the 22,180 rows on the 4,447 parcels carrying a building on the 2026–27 roll. The firm has published no written scale for grade, condition or obsolescence in Bridgton.

WHAT IS MILL RATE?

A mill rate is the Town’s price per $1,000 of assessed value. One mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000. Bridgton’s 2026–27 rate is 8.70 mills, up from 8.25 in 2025–26 and 17.05 in 2024.

The Select Board and Town Meeting set the amount to be raised (the levy), and the rate is that amount divided by the town’s total net taxable value. In 2026–27 the levy committed was $22,436,085 (+7.3% over the $20,919,211 committed the year before) on net taxable value of $2,578,860,270 (+1.7%); the rate rose 5.5%.

The same rate applies to every parcel, so each owner’s share of the levy depends on that parcel’s share of the town’s total assessed value. How closely assessments track market value across all parcels is what the sales ratio study measures; see the firm’s sales ratio study.

Exemptions, deferrals and abatements — and where to apply

These are Maine State programs available in every municipality, described from the State’s published materials. Applications go through the Bridgton assessor’s office ( · ) unless noted; State forms are on the Maine Revenue Services website. Confirm current details with the assessor.

The exemption is a fixed dollar amount

The $25,000 Homestead exemption is a dollar amount, not a percentage. At 8.70 mills it reduces a tax bill by $25,000 ÷ 1,000 × 8.70 = $217.50 a year; at the 2025–26 rate of 8.25 mills the same exemption was worth $206.25.

Documents produced by the Town

These are the records the Town of Bridgton produced in response to a Freedom of Access Act request; the production was received on 20 October 2026. They are the Town’s documents, reproduced unaltered; this site did not write them. The commitment books are large (over 1,000 pages each).

Anyone may request the same records from the Town under 1 M.R.S. §408-A. Nothing on this site restricts that right.

Purpose & sources

Maine property tax records are public, but they are spread across bulk-printed commitment books, a parcel-by-parcel web lookup and scanned FOAA documents. This site puts them in one searchable place, sets the State’s assessor-training manual and the IAAO’s published standards beside how Bridgton’s cards record condition, obsolescence and grade, and publishes the firm’s sales ratio study and pricing schedules, so each reader can draw his or her own conclusions. It is information only.

Where every figure comes from

• Tax roll totals, account numbers, 2025–26 and 2026–27 values and tax: the Town of Bridgton’s real estate commitment books (14 July 2026 and 8 July 2025), produced under FOAA.
• Land lines, site improvements, building grade, condition and obsolescence, visit history, exemptions, owner and sale information: each parcel’s property record card, as published by John E. O’Donnell & Associates for the 2026–27 tax year.
• 2025 proposed values: “Bridgton, Maine Proposed Values, 2025 Revaluation,” printed 26 May 2025, produced under FOAA. Matched to the commitment by map/lot where the printed map/lot could be read.
• Sales ratio study, pricing schedules and contract: produced under FOAA; PDFs are on the documents page.
• Property transfers: Maine Tax Portal, Real Estate Transfer Tax Declarations (RETTD) public lookup, Bridgton, 2024–2025.
• State history: Maine Revenue Services Municipal Valuation Return Statistical Summaries, 2009–2024.
• Standards: Maine Revenue Services PT103 — Valuation of Real Estate; IAAO Glossary, Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property and Standard on Ratio Studies; MRS Rule Chapter 201 (18-125 CMR ch. 201); MRS Property Tax Bulletin No. 10.

What this site does not do

It does not say whether any card is over- or under-assessed, what any property is worth, or whether any owner should file anything. It does not compare 2026–27 values with the pre-revaluation (2024–25) roll, because that commitment has not been produced yet. It is not an appraisal and not legal advice. Figures were read from PDFs by software and may contain errors; verify anything material against the Town’s records.

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Add a historical parcel card

Historical parcel cards are public records. To add yours: ask the Bridgton assessor’s office or the Town Clerk for a copy of the parcel’s historical property record card, and drop the copy in my mailbox. Every card is a data point on what building quality, condition and construction in Bridgton looked like before the 2025 revaluation. Older cards for any parcel are welcome, not only your own.

Property record cards only, please. Do not include tax bills, identification, or anything that is not a parcel card.

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Corrections to a figure on this site, or your own observations about a parcel, are welcome. Please do not include anything private. This is not a way to reach the Town or the assessor.