Lowering Property Taxes, Keeping Ossipee Ours

First and overall, home values are based on the average of what houses have sold for in Ossipee recently. When a handful of high sale prices set the bar for everyone's home value, homeowners end up paying taxes on a number that doesn't match reality. That's not fair to anyone. Morgan will advocate for updating the homestead exemption for seniors’ income qualifications from the 2004 dollar amounts to reflect today’s living expenses, and for evolving the formula used to value properties to one that gives weight to the majority of real property values in the first place, among other measures.

Right now, property taxes have skyrocketed, not because the town is overspending, but because the state isn't covering its share of education costs. The state has been cutting the big business taxes and has eliminated other taxes that used to help pay for schools without replacing them with another revenue source. Big businesses and the ultra-wealthy get the tax break. Working families, small businesses, and those on fixed incomes in Ossipee get the property tax bill. Our property taxes are going up, but our services are going down, and that needs to change.

Morgan will fight in Concord to make the state pay its real share of education, instead of quietly shifting that cost onto homeowners and seniors here at home. She will oppose a new sales or income tax as a "fix," because that just moves the burden around instead of solving it. And she’ll push for real relief for the working class families and those on a fixed income who are at risk of being taxed out of homes they've lived in for generations.

Ossipee families shouldn't have to choose between staying in their homes and paying a bill Concord should be helping cover. Morgan’s goal is simple: lowering the cost of living without sacrificing our standard of living.