Methuen High School Online

No surprises here, Methuen isn't immune to this economic crisis.

Assessors inspected and updated the values of every property in the city this year — something done only every 10 years. The state Department of Revenue still needs to approve the assessments, but preliminary data shows that for the most part, homes have lost value.

But just because your property value dropped, it doesn't mean you'll pay less in taxes.

The city still needs to raise enough from taxes to be able to function, so the City Council is likely to raise the tax rate to cancel out the drop in property values. If it kept the tax rate the same, people who saw their home values drop would see their tax bills drop. But then the city would lose money.