Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of October 20, 2011 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, October 20, 2011, in the Room 208, 2nd floor of City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 8:15 AM by Chair Marylou Blaisdell. Members Present: Marylou Blaisdell Dominic D’Antoni Kevin Moriarty Assessing Staff Present: Angelo Marino Douglas Dame Drew Lemay Louise Brown Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: Minutes of the meeting of August 18, 2011 and September 15, 2011 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete listing of all abatements approved/denied is available in the Assessor’s Office. Regarding a settlement offer presented by Commercial Appraiser Douglas Dame for the property located at 10 St. Laurent Street, Unit 2, the Best Western Granite Inn, Mr. Dominic D’Antoni reminded Mr. Dame that equity is the name of the game when setting assessments and by lowering this assessment by 10% he believes this is skewing the equity in this class of property. Mr. D’Antoni said that when the city’s assessments are updated it is based on equity within certain classes of property and by revising this assessment the equity is disturbed. Mr. D’Antoni said he will not agree to this settlement offer for this reason. Chair Blaisdell said that the Board has to give attention to the property owners that do come in and apply for an abatement first and then the Assessing Department reviews those properties and if adjustments on various classes of property are necessary, then adjustments are made. She asked Chief Assessor Angelo Marino if this is accurate. Mr. Marino answered we have two obligations. The first issue is assessing all properties fairly and properly and the second is to examine the facts of each abatement where the taxpayer says their assessment is not in line when comparing it to market value and if it is determined this is true and the assessment is too high, we need to address that. Appointments: None. Staff Items: Ms. Louise Brown, Supervisor of Assessing Administration presented a Warrant for a Report of Wood Cut and the Board members signed it. Chair Marylou Blaisdell referred to a letter addressed to the Board of Assessors dated September 23, 2011 from Ms. Paulette Lavoie, daughter and POA for the taxpayer/applicant, Mr. Armand A. Beaulieu. The letter states that Mr. Beaulieu was declared legally blind by his doctors on April 22 nd (after April 1st) and at that time advised by The Association for the Blind to apply for this exemption since he qualified for it. The letter also states that a representative from the Assessing Department 1 of 2 visited Mr. Beaulieu’s home to fill out the application with him but the representative advised him that he had missed the April 15th deadline and if this was the case, Mr. Beaulieu feels that because he was not advised of this beforehand, “this was a waste of her time and taxpayer’s money.” Ms. Lavoie also writes that “after spending twenty two years of service with the City of Nashua as alderman, fire commissioner, county commissioner and serving on Governor King’s crime commission, he has stated that this alone should qualify for the exemption”. She asks that the denial “be reconsidered since he probably will not be able to benefit from the tax exemption next year due to his terminal illness”. Each Board member received a copy of this letter prior to this meeting for his/her consideration. Ms. Brown advised that initially Mr. Beaulieu contacted the Mayor’s Office who in turn contacted her and it was agreed that she will go to Mr. Beaulieu’s home and help him fill out the application. Mr. D’Antoni asked why this would be considered a waste of taxpayer’s money and Ms. Brown answered she does not know why, as there is no mileage reimbursement submitted and no extra money paid out by the City for this service. This is done to help those that are house-bound and make it possible for the application to be properly filed. Ms. Blaisdell said her opinion is that the application was received past the deadline and if we open the door for this we need to make an exception on everything. She said she appreciates him serving the City but we cannot make a decision based on someone’s prior job description. She noted that he had been advised he was filing the application past the deadline. Ms. Brown told the Board that not only did he file his application late but he also did not qualify as of April 1, 2011, the date by which all applicants must meet the criteria set by State law. Both Ms. Blaisdell and Mr. D’Antoni agreed that this denial must be upheld. Dr. Moriarty said he hesitates to make a decision without hearing from all the parties involved. He asked if the applicant and/or his daughter were told they can appear before the Board and Ms. Brown answered yes they were but chose not to and she continued saying that every applicant asking for a reconsideration is given that opportunity. MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to uphold the original denial of the Blind Exemption for the property located at 85 King Street as the application was filed after the statutory deadline of April 15, 2011 and the applicant did not meet the criteria to receive this exemption as of April 1, 2011. SECONDED BY Kevin Moriarty. MOTION CARRIED Mr. Marino told the Board that Assessing’s files have been captured for the 2011 tax year and the final Warrant should be ready for the Board’s signature by the next scheduled meeting. Mr. D’Antoni asked the projected increase and Mr. Marino replied probably about 3%. Mr. Marino then briefed the Board on the status of various appeals filed with Board of Tax and Land Appeals and Superior Court. MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to adjourn at 8:40 AM. SECONDED BY Dominic D’Antoni. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 2 of 2