Town tax rate set

Merrimack – The tax rate is just a bit lower than what the town had estimated.

The state Department of Revenue Administration has set the town’s 2004 property tax rate at $22.36 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That’s an increase of 10.5 percent over the 2003 rate of $20.24.

With the tax rate, property taxes on the average single-family home with an assessed value of $218,000 will increase by $462 from $4,412 in 2003 to $4,874 in 2004, town officials said.

The tax rate breaks down this way:

– Schools – $12.80, an increase of $3.03.

– Town – $5.26, an increase of 22 cents.

– State school tax – $3.12, a decrease of $1.10.

– County – $1.18, a decrease of three cents.