By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — The town assessor for Casco has insisted that a property tax bill be produced for the town-owned building next to library.

Why?

After all, it is owned by the town; and municipal properties aren’t taxed.

Casco Town Assessor Renee Lachapelle said that because a business, All The Raven Salon and Cottage Antiques, leases the building, it can indeed be taxed.

“Our assessor has now determined that the salon building, which is owned by the Town of Casco, should be taxed because the salon is a taxable business,” according to Casco Town Manager Dave Morton.

“Property that is owned by a tax-exempt entity is taxable if used by a taxable entity. That is how the law works,” he said.

Morton said he disagreed with the assessor, but she was the authority on such matters.

“She did place a value on the salon building, which is owned by the Town of Casco,” Morton said. “We could either cut a check and pay the Town of Casco back or [we could] write this off.”

The Casco Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to write off the $2,122 tax bill that had been generated for All The Raven Salon. This happened during the March 26 meeting.

“It has never been taxed before. I know there is some confusion,” Morton said.

Selectman Calvin Nutting agreed.

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” he said.

Morton said, “It is policy.”

“I think Renee [Lachapelle] is very good about being strict about the law.

It has never been taxed before but she picked that up and said, ‘Hey, there is a business there. We are taxing personal property. There should be a real estate tax on that,’” Morton said.

Nutting later quipped it was fortunate that the structure was not valued at $1,000,000, because that would be a write off that could have some impact.