First of all, tax rate setting is not a function of local government!
Property tax rates are set for every community each fall by the Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) in Concord. Consider it a form of check and balance for the community. To do the calculation each municipality must send in its total assessed value, exemption and credit figures, and the municipal budget. The school district and county will send in their respective budgets and the Legislature sets the state education figure. Once all the items are received at the DRA, a rate can be calculated.
Simply put, the tax rate is computed by dividing the total of the budgets by the total taxable assessed value of the Town. For example, if the total of all the budgets is $100,000 and the total taxable assessed value of the Town is $1,000,000, then the tax rate would be $10 (100,000 ÷ 1,000,000 = 0.10 or $10 per thousand). Though this example is oversimplified, it does provide a realistic model of the process.