LACONIA — The city’s annual revaluation of properties is complete, and property owners who check the city’s website will likely find that their property is now assessed for more than it was last year. However, just because an individual property is now worth more doesn’t necessarily mean the tax bill will be higher by the same proportion.

That’s because a property’s value is only half of the equation used to calculate the tax bill. The other half is the city’s tax rate, and that figure isn’t available yet.

The tax rate is set by the state’s Department of Revenue Administration. The rate is determined by looking at the amount that a city or town needs to raise in order to fund its budget, then dividing that by the total valuation of real estate within that municipality.

This year’s revaluation, conducted by Whitney Consulting Group, found that property in Laconia rose in value this year by an average of 15%. That’s a more modest increase than the previous year, which found that the average property value rose by 34%.

The values were determined by comparing properties to the sale prices of 382 homes between April 1, 2022, and March 21, 2023.

The total value of the city rose from $3.48 billion to just over $4 billion.

“The thing to emphasize is: don’t use last year’s tax rate to do the math to figure out what your taxes will be this year,” City Manager Kirk Beattie said. He anticipated getting the new tax rate from DRA within a couple of weeks.

The newly assessed value of individual properties can be searched at laconianh.gov and clicking on the alert at the top of the main page. Any questions, including requests for abatements, can be directed to the assessor’s office in City Hall by calling 603-527-1268 or emailing assessing@laconianh.gov.

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