Rochester mobile homeowners rally to fight big property tax hikes: 'See us as residents'

—Foster's Daily Democrat
Published: 01-16-2025 9:21 AM
Modified: 01-16-2025 9:38 AM |
ROCHESTER — Kevin Brigham, president of Hideaway Village, a mobile home park with 81 residents, is working to unite all nine mobile home cooperatives in the city. He's seeking to present a united front after a huge increase in property taxes.
Mobile home park owners say they will seek any and all remedies after their new property valuations, which have more than doubled on average, and tripled in some cases. Rochester's tax rate is $14.85 per $1,000 of valuation. Mobile home and condo owners are now being charged a bigger percentage of the city's overall tax burden.
"My mission is to show all the data I have been researching so we can show the revaluation is unfair to us as residents of this city," Brigham said. "We need the city to stop seeing our (cooperatives) as businesses and see us instead as residents, and to tax us accordingly. We are residents and our (cooperatives) are nonprofits. We exist for the benefit of our residents for the purpose of keeping their homes affordable. Many people here are senior citizens, on fixed incomes and they cannot afford these large increases."
Brigham said mobile home residents are seeing up to 300% increases in their tax bills with mobile home and condo owners now being billed for a sharply increased percentage of Rochester's overall tax burden. He is worried some may be forced to find new places to live at a time when housing of any kind is at a premium.
When the Rochester City Council meets Tuesday, Jan. 21, it is likely they will see a large contingent of people upset by their tax bills. The city of about 33,500 residents includes about 2,650 mobile homes, mostly in privately owned parks.
"We are encouraging many of our residents to attend the council meeting, to show who we are and why this is unfair," Brigham said.
People living in mobile home parks and condominiums say their new increased property values and accompanying tax increases are unfair because they do not receive the same city services as other residents. They say the city does not provide trash services from Waste Management and does not maintain or plow their streets because they are deemed private property.
Mobile home values went up 208% on average in Rochester and condos went up 94% while single-family home values increased 73%, similar to trends across New Hampshire.
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Brigham said he is putting together a packet and will make it available to all councilors and the mayor, detailing the arguments he will make on Tuesday.
Brigham said he has reached to out Les Horne and Daniel Fitzpatrick, Rochester city councilors representing Ward 2 where Hideaway Village is located.
He said he has connected with the Fieldstone Village mobile home cooperative (100 mobile homes), which agreed to collaborate with him. The board at Windswept Acres Cooperative (178 homes) is expected to discuss joining him, too. He is working to connect with all the remaining cooperatives, too.
"I want to improve services (and cut costs) .... and share ideas for the benefit of our residents, which improves on our mission of affordable housing," Brigham said.
He said he will present data he is compiling to the City Council with the hopes to persuade the city to take action to reduce tax bills.
Janice Murray, president of the Woodland Green Condominium homeowners association, said it will be represented at the council meeting.
"We can detail all the expenses paid by the association that are just given to other homeowners as part of their property taxes," she said. "They are considerable."
Mayor Paul Callaghan pointed out property tax revaluations are required by state law. City officials have noted mobile home property values surged in communities across New Hampshire, including Exeter.
"The objective of the revaluation (mandated by state law) is to bring all properties to 100% of their true market value," Callaghan said. "Property values change at different rates for various locations and property types. A revaluation ensures fairness in the collection of revenue for municipal purposes."
Callaghan confirmed trash pickup at Rochester's mobile home parks, condominium properties and other private streets are not covered in the city's contract with Waste Management, but recycling pickup is included.
"Per our host agreement (and similar to what is charged to the city), Waste Management should only charge the private contracts for the transportation fee, not the volume, at the condos, mobile home parks and private streets," Callaghan said.
Marybeth Walker, chief assessor for the city, said the time to file an abatement falls between when the final tax bill is issued and the March 1 deadline.
"The application must be filed in person or postmarked by March 1," said Walker. "We do not accept emailed applications. The form to file was created by the New Hampshire Board of Tax and Land Appeals. To appeal the assessment through the abatement process, an owner must file with the municipality first."
Information, including the tax abatement form, can be found at rochesternh.gov/assessing/pages/abatements-and-appeals.
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