State certifies Dover’s tax rate; tax bills to be mailed soon

posted on 12/4/2023; updated 12/5/2024

The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) certified the City of Dover’s property tax rate for fiscal year 2024 (tax year 2023) on Dec. 4, 2023, at $18.70 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

Tax bills are being prepared and will be in the mail to property owners by Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, with the first half of the tax bill due Friday, Jan. 12, 2024 and the second half of the tax bill due on Monday, June 3, 2024.

The tax rate set by the DRA represents a decrease of $1.14 or a 5.75% decrease over the prior year.

The average residential property is now assessed at $458,334 ($418,706 last year), which includes all single-family, multi-family units, condos and manufactured housing, with a tax bill averaging $8,571, an increase of $264 or 3.2%. The average single-family residential property assessed at $513,892 ($471,406 last year) has a total tax bill of $9,610, an increase of $257 or 2.8%.

"The certified rate represents a decrease of $1.14 or a 5.8% decrease from last year," City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. said in an email to the City Council about the tax rate. "It should be noted that the overall tax rate would have been $0.94 more than last year’s rate if assessments had remain unchanged given solely the budgetary impacts of $0.39 for City portion of the tax bill, $0.55 for the School portion and $0.00 (no impact) for the County.

"The certified rate for this year was instead significantly reduced due to the overall increase in assessed value of nearly $750 million or a 14.4% increase realized from the combination of increased market value and the new construction value added within the community this past year," Joyal said.

To calculate property tax for a specific parcel, multiply the tax rate ($18.70) by the assessed value and divide by 1,000. Find assessed values for all property parcels in Dover at www.dover.nh.gov/government/city-operations/finance/tax-assessment/assessment-reports/.

There are four components of the tax rate: the city portion, local education portion, state education, and Strafford County. The tax rate of $18.70 is broken down as follows:

• City: $6.69, a decrease of 53 cents over the previous year;
• Local education: $8.97, a decrease of 69 cents over the previous year;
• County: $1.78, a decrease of 16 cents over the previous year;
• State education: $1.26, an increase of 24 cents.

For more information, contact the Finance Department at 603-516-6030.