FARMINGTON — The Board of Selectmen listened Tuesday but could do little when a resident requested that they find a way to cap tax-exempt properties at 30 percent.

The town has a high amount of tax-exempt properties. If it continues to increase, taxpayers bear the burden with more taxes applied to support the town, Nancy Porter explained.

She encouraged the board to find some way to establish a 30-percent limit. She suggested nonprofits should be taxed on any property they chose to acquire once the 30-percent cap was reached for the town.

“We feel your frustration but we’re at the mercy of the Legislature,” Town Manager Richard Davis responded about state taxation rules. “The Legislature has not been kind to municipalities.”

The town is taxing everything that it can, he added. It can’t limit tax-exempt properties. The board encouraged Porter to contact her local representative and senator.

In recent years, Farmington has had 28 percent of town valuation under tax exempt status. There is now $219 million in valuation that is tax exempt, Mark Caldwell, town assessor, said Thursday.

Those properties include schools and the college, the hospital, churches and homes maintained by nonprofit entities such as Pierce House, Pinewood and Life Enrichment Advancing People, he said.

Each year, Davis sends a letter to each nonprofit asking for a donation to help pay for town services such as fire protection and road maintenance. Some years, there’s been a good response. One year, the town received $60,000 he said.

Porter told the board, she has received 10 phone calls from people whose taxes have gone up. “People are unhappy,” she said. “A lot of people can’t give much more.”

The rate is a simple mathematical formula based on the town’s budget needs and the amount of taxable property, Caldwell said. Selectmen were conservative about adding any funds to lower the rate because no one is sure what will happen next year, he added.

The tax rate was set in August at $15.75 per $1,000 valuation, an amount 85 cents less than last year’s rate. Taxes are due Nov. 1.

During a revaluation of properties, completed this summer, the town picked up $54 million in new valuation, Davis said in August.

There were some value changes, some went up, some down, Caldwell said. People are coming in to discuss the changes and he reviews them. “There’s been a pretty steady stream,” he said of people who have come in for an explanation.

The town’s commitment day was Sept. 9 and residents have 185 days from then to file a formal request for a revaluation review but people can come in to discuss it anytime, from now till next summer, he said.

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