Your property taxes might not be as high as you think - at least according to one researcher who's spent the past few years examining how New Hampshire's tax bills stack up to those in other states.

Daphne Kenyon, a local public finance consultant, says her work debunks the common methods of measuring property tax burdens. While the conventional wisdom places New Hampshire among the states with the highest property taxes per capita, Kenyon says those figures are exaggerated.

In a study released yesterday, Kenyon uses information about second homes, commercial property and other factors to recalculate the tax burden. Her work ranks New Hampshire somewhere in the middle of the pack in a comparison of property tax burdens among the states. Traditional measures, which calculate the tax burden on a per capita basis, usually rank New Hampshire in the top three.

"This information is important because New Hampshire is always thinking about its tax structure," Kenyon said during a conference call yesterday morning. "It's important to have accurate information so policy changes aren't acted upon based on erroneous information."

The work is sponsored in part by the Committee For Sensible School Funding, a group of business owners who keep tabs on New Hampshire's ongoing debate over how to pay for public schools. The group's website features several studies, including this one, information on legislative happenings and quotes from business leaders worried that an income tax might have dire effects on New Hampshire's economy.

Kenyon based her findings on data from the Minnesota Taxpayers Association, which was purchased for the study by Paul Montrone, the former CEO of New Hampshire-based Fisher Scientific.

In addition to re-sorting state-by-state rankings, Kenyon says that taxpayers in New Hampshire are getting a pretty good deal. About 65 percent of property tax dollars go toward the state's public schools, which Kenyon says, routinely earn high national test scores.

"Are we getting our money's worth?" the study says. "The answer is a solid yes."

The study, titled Not as High as You Think, is one of several reports that have been released during this month's flurry of town meetings. Kenyon hopes it provides voters and meeting-goers with "more and better information" on which to base their decisions.