The tax rates for Andover for 2012 have been finalized and the tax bills will be in our mailboxes shortly. These bills show a slight decrease over last year. The components of the tax rate are shown in the tables that accompany this article.

The tax bill for a typical property assessed at $200,000 will be approximately $3,700 in 2012, down from last year by about $60.

Andover School Taxes

The 2012 annual School District Meeting voted to appropriate the Budget Committee’s recommended budget of $4.35 million. This appropriation is an increase over the 2011 appropriation of $4.32 million by approximately $33,500.

In spite of the loss of $62,000 of State support for the New Hampshire Retirement System (see the November 2012 Beacon article), there were sufficient budget savings resulting from an easy heating year and reduced high school tuition costs to be able to return an unexpended surplus of approximately $165,000. After accounting for offsetting revenues, including the New Hampshire Education Grant of $822,697, the amount to be raised by taxes for 2012 is $3.190 million, down from last year’s amount of $3.298 million by approximately $108,000.

The State component of the School tax rate for 2012 becomes $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed property value; the Town component of the School tax rate becomes $9.89, for a total of $12.02. This is a decrease in the tax rate from 2011 of $12.41 by $0.39, or -3.1%.

Total Tax Rates In Surrounding Towns
New London $15.03
Webster $18.37
East Andover $18.38
Andover $18.67
Hill $18.95
Wilmot $20.29
Boscawen $21.05
Sutton $21.57
Franklin $22.22
Danbury $23.22
Salisbury $24.15
Warner $25.24

Andover Town Taxes

The 2012 annual Town Meeting voted to appropriate a total budget of $1.401 million. This is a reduction from the amount appropriated in 2011 of $1.491 million by approximately $90,000.

After accounting for estimated revenues and other adjustments, the amount to be raised by taxes in 2012 comes to $830,638, down from the amount for 2011 of $880,959 by $50,321.

As a result, the Town tax rate for 2012 is $3.35, down from the 2011 rate of $3.54. This is a decrease in the tax rate by $0.19.

County Taxes

The bill that Andover received from Merrimack County for its share of its 2012 budget was $712,308, up from the 2011 amount of $639,961. The tax rate to fund this bill is $2.66, compared to $2.39 for 2011.

Fire Department Taxes

The total amount to be raised by taxes for the two Andover fire departments for 2012 is $123,119, up by $684 over last year. The tax rates for 2012 are $0.64 for the Andover district, and $0.35 for the East Andover district.