Although property value assessments in Dublin are up an average of 70% this year, town officials stress that does not translate into all tax bills increasing by that amount.

Residents have received letters about their revaluations, completed by Avitar Associates, the Chichester-based firm retained for this process. Under state law, municipalities “shall reappraise all real estate within the municipality so that the assessments are at full and true value at least as often as every fifth year.”

The 70% figure is the result of the completion of that five-year cycle.

“During each of the first four years of that cycle, a quarter of the properties in town are assessed, and in the fifth year, all properties are assessed,” Select Board Chair Chris Raymond explained. “I’m not surprised at the 70% figure. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been 100%. I wish there were a way to put people’s minds at ease.”

Select Board member Carole Monroe cautioned property owners to not try to calculate their next tax bills based solely on this information.

“People should not multiply the figure of the new assessment by their old tax rate,” she said, adding that some tax bills will reflect changes lower than 70%, and some will be higher.

Raymond cited realities of the recent real estate market as the catalyst for the 70% figure.

“Avitar told us that, having been doing this statewide, to expect an increase of 65 to 75% in evaluations based on their work elsewhere. This is a much bigger picture than Dublin,” he said.

A major element of assessed value is recent real estate transactions. Avitar does a market analysis of properties sold, and when assessing a site, the firm looks at the sales of comparable properties over the previous 90 days.

When it comes time to develop the tax rate, Bruce Kneuer, a municipal bureau supervisor at the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, said the calculation process involves four elements: the municipal rate to support services such as sanitation, a county rate, a school tax rate for local and regional educational support and SWEPT, the Statewide Education Property Tax.

This fourth component is set at the Department of Revenue Administration by “multiplying the uniform education property tax rate by the municipality’s tax base,” according to the department’s website.

Kneuer said that the equalization process — reviewing all real estate transactions in a town over the previous year — figures in matters as well.

“This is so that when the apportionment takes place, it can reflect actual market values,” he said,

The final step in computing tax bills comes when towns decide whether to use any unassigned funds to offset the budget, and rates will not be disclosed by the DRA until Oct. 1.

Raymond noted that in terms of town expenditures, at the July 23 Budget Committee meeting, a motion to have a budget target for 2025 that involved no increase from the previous year passed with a 6-0 vote.