Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of August 5, 2010 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, August 5, 2010, in Room 208, 2nd floor of City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 8:15 AM by Acting Chair Dominic D’Antoni. Members Present: Dominic D’Antoni Kevin Moriarty Assessing Staff Present: Angelo Marino Douglas Dame Gary Turgiss Greg Turgiss Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: Minutes of the meeting of July 1, 2010 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete listing of all abatements approved/denied is available in Assessor’s Office. Appointments: 8:30 – Ms. Mary O’Neill regarding the denial of a 2010 elderly exemption – Acting Chair Dominic D’Antoni welcomed Ms. O’Neill and told her that the Board members have reviewed all the information submitted by her and staff in the Assessing Department. He confirmed that the amount of income received in calendar year 2009 that was reported to the Assessing Department was correct. Ms. O’Neill advised that it is correct. Mr. D’Antoni told Ms. O’Neill that this amount is over the maximum income allowed for an unmarried person and the Assessing Department is bound by law and therefore this application cannot be approved and it must be denied for the tax year 2010. Ms. O’Neill explained her situation and her expenses and why she was hoping an exception could be made. Mr. D’Antoni advised that the law is very specific and it does not allow exceptions. He told her she is welcome to apply next year and if the criteria are met she would be approved, but this year all the criteria has not been met and the exemption must be denied. Ms. O’Neill asked if commercial properties are taxed the same as residential properties. She was told that all property taxes are based on market value whether commercial or residential. Ms. O’Neill said she did not think that was fair since most commercial properties have a much higher income. One property in particular was mentioned and she said considering the high dollar amount of rents that are collected from the tenants of this property, it is unfair that the property is taxed the same way as her property. She said that this property has several code violations and has deplorable conditions and despite this the property still collects a high dollar amount in rents. Mr. D’Antoni told Ms. O’Neill of the Low and Moderate Income Homeowners Property Tax Relief program offered by the State of NH. This program refunds some of property taxes for homeowners who qualify. The deadline to apply for this program was June 30 but it is something she can look into for the upcoming years. Chief Assessor Angelo Marino gave Ms. O’Neill a book called “The Help Book” which lists all the organizations that the State of NH offers to help those in need and said she should look through it to see if there is any other assistance she might be able to get. Mr. Marino told Ms. O’Neill that he has made a note of the property she mentioned and, although this does not lower her assessment or property taxes, he will notify the Code Enforcement Officer of this and asked if would be alright to give them her contact information so they can get more information from her. She said that would be alright. 1 of 2 Staff Items: Mr. Marino told the Board that Deputy Assessor Robert Gagne inspected 2 Morningside Drive, a property which has been in the news recently due to a report of criminal activity at the location. This property has been listed as a two unit in Assessing’s records and following the report of this criminal activity an inquiry was made as to the legality of this second unit. It was discovered that the second unit in this property is an illegal dwelling unit. After being contacted by city officials, the owner of this property came into Assessing and said our data is incorrect and there is no second dwelling unit. She advised this is a one-unit property. The owner further stated that there is only one kitchen in the house. An inspection of the property was scheduled and during the inspection Mr. Gagne took pictures of the second unit with the second kitchen. We had the property’s data listed correctly. According to Code Enforcement Regulations, in order to be considered an in-law apartment the owner needs to occupy the main property and the in-law apartment must be occupied by the owner’s family. Another requirement is that the area of the in-law apartment must be no more than 30% of the total area of the house. This apartment is 50% of the total area. Another requirement, that this property actually meets, is that the in-law apartment must be connected to the main dwelling unit. Mr. Marino told the Board that there was a meeting held yesterday with Code Enforcement to discuss the procedure of sharing this type of information. He said Code Enforcement has been very good about telling us about things that may not be listed correctly in our data. If we have a property listed as a two unit and they see that it is a three unit, they let us know. If we see that our data does not match what is physically there, we will change our records and then notify Code. At our meeting yesterday, we laid out more procedures for them to provide us with information we have not been getting in the past like when they will close a building and make people vacate. This information is important for us to know from a valuation standpoint. We also examine information such as images and sketches and if there are differences from the previous year’s image or sketch, we have a spreadsheet that is multiple pages that we have been forwarding to Code Enforcement. Mr. D’Antoni asked what would happen if a single family has been converted to a two family and Mr. Marino replied that we would see if there was a variance but if it was determined that this was done illegally, they have the authority to have the owners rip it out. Mr. D’Antoni expressed surprise that the city would order it to be taken out and asked if this has been done before. Mr. Marino said yes and offered an example of when this was done. Mr. Marino said the owners might have two alternatives, either go to Planning and see if they can get a variance for legal, nonconforming or to rip out the work that was done illegally. Old Business: None MOTION BY Dominic D’Antoni to adjourn at 9:18 AM. SECONDED BY Kevin Moriarty. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 2 of 2