LOCAL TAX REVISION

HANOVER property taxes, due on or before December 1, were lower this year than originally estimated because of a review of the tax status of Dartmouth College properties, as agreed upon by the Town Selectmen and the College, resulting in an upward revision of the College assessment by nearly half a million dollars. The College's 1960 tax payment to the Town was $157,100, as compared with $112,650 in 1959.

The revised assessment, together with other reassessments and the addition of new properties to the tax roll, reduced the tax rate within the Precinct from the $72.20 estimated earlier to $68.80 per $1000 of assessed valuation.

The result of the tax review was to make certain College property previously taxed now tax-exempt in accordance with revised State laws, and to make some previously exempt properties now taxable. In addition to the 1960 increase in the College's assessment, it is expected by the Selectmen that the College's total assessment will be increased still further during the next two years as three new dormitories now under construction at the Wigwam Circle site are completed along with other taxable College construction. New Hampshire is the only one of the fifty states that subjects college dormitories and dining facilities to taxation.

Under the State laws, the property of Dartmouth College falls into three classes. Class I, covering buildings and lands used solely for educational purposes, is tax exempt. Class II covers dormitories, dining rooms and kitchens, on which an exemption of $150,000 is allowed. Assessed valuation above this amount is taxable unless a larger exemption is voted by the Town. Class III covers the remainder of College property, such as faculty apartments and other residential housing, which is assessed and taxed the same as all other town property.