Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of April 19, 2012 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, April 19, 2012, in 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 Drew LeMay Greg Turgiss Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: The minutes for the meeting held on March 22, 2012 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete listing of all abatements approved/denied is available in the Assessor’s Office. Appointments: None Staff Items: Ms. Cheryl Walley, Department Coordinator, presented two A-9 Forms that were filed late. The A-9 Form is required to be filed April 15th annually by the State of NH by any organization seeking a charitable, religious or educational exemption. This year the deadline fell on a Sunday, so the deadline was extended to April 16th. The two that are being presented were filed on April 17th and are for the Hispanic Church of the Nazarene and the Humane Society of Greater Nashua. The Board members were each given a copy of a letter written by the Pastor Alex Laureano of the Hispanic Church of the Nazarene, explaining the reason behind the late filing. The church has a new pastor who recently took over from the elderly and ailing former pastor and the new pastor was not aware of this requirement. The email address this office had for the church was the retired pastor's personal email so they never reached the church. Our contact email address has been updated by the new pastor and replaced with a central church email address along with a second contact email address of the new pastor. The Board understands this situation and agrees they will accept the reason under "accident, mistake or misfortune" as allowed by state law but noted the exemption has only been approved for this church two years ago and the A-9 Form has already been filed late. The Board asked that the pastor be advised that this will be the only time the late filing will be accepted and the due date must be adhered to in future years or the exemption will be removed. MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to accept the late filing of the A-9 form for the property located at 28 Charron Avenue, Suite 11, due to "accident, mistake or misfortune". SECONDED BY Kevin Moriarty. MOTION CARRIED unanimously. 1 of 3 Regarding the Humane Society of Greater Nashua's late filing of the A-9 Form, the Board was advised that the person responsible for filing the form late advised the Assessing Department it was due to complications which arose because the reminders are now being sent via email instead of USPS. Ms. Walley advised the members she had received a "read receipt" indicating the email to the Humane Society was read on January 10, 2012, which would indicate the email had reached our contact. Chief Assessor Angelo Marino reminded the Board that the email is only sent as a courtesy and the City is not required to remind these organizations to file this form. It is the responsibility of each organization to file this form timely, whether they are reminded or not. According to RSA 72:23-c (http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/V/72/72-23-c.htm) the form can be accepted late only if the organization's reason for the late filing is acceptable under the "accident, mistake or misfortune" clause in the law. In order for the Board to consider if the reason is acceptable due to "accident, mistake or misfortune", Dr. Kevin Moriarty asked that they receive a written explanation from the Humane Society of Greater Nashua with the reason for the late filing of the A-9 Form, as we have received from the Hispanic Church of the Nazarene. A decision will be reached after this written explanation is received by the members. This written explanation will be kept on file in the Assessor's Office after the Board's decision has been reached. Ms. Walley then presented three new charitable exemptions for 2012. The Board was advised each of these A-9 forms was filed timely and as of April 1, 2012 each property is being used for the purpose which each respective charitable organization has been created. The first one considered is for the property located at 22 Prospect Street being used by Lamprey Health Care to provide medical and health related services to the community. The Board made the following motion: MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to approve the charitable property tax exemption application for Map 30, Lot 3 located at 22 Prospect St. and owned by Lamprey Health Care as this property meets the criteria in RSA 72:23 to receive a charitable property tax exemption as of April 1, 2012. SECONDED BY Dominic D’Antoni. MOTION CARRIED unanimously. The second considered is for the property located at 88 Temple Street and being used by Southern New Hampshire Services for child daycare to low-income families. The Board made the following motion: MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to approve the charitable property tax exemption application for Map 37, Lot 1 located at 88 Temple St. and owned by Southern New Hampshire Service Inc., as this property meets the criteria in RSA 72:23 to receive a charitable property tax exemption as of April 1, 2012. SECONDED BY Dominic D’Antoni. MOTION CARRIED unanimously. The last considered is for the leased land and building at 24 Stadium Drive being used by the Young Men's Christian Association of Greater Nashua (YMCA) to provide education, recreation and childcare to the community. Chair Marylou Blaisdell asked if the YMCA is truly a charitable organization. Chief Assessor Angelo Marino advised he had previously asked the same question 2 of 3 but has since come to understand they are charitable and are providing a service to the community that falls under their mission. He also pointed out that the YMCA has a lease arrangement with the City for the land and they are paying the City $30,000 a year to lease the land. After some discussion, the Board made the following motion: MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to approve the charitable property tax exemption application for Map E, Lot 2224L and Lot 2224Q, located at 24 Stadium Dr., land owned by City of Nashua and leased to the Young Men's Christian Association of Greater Nashua (YMCA) and the building owned by the YMCA, as this property meets the criteria in RSA 72:23 to receive a charitable property tax exemption as of April 1, 2012. SECONDED BY Dominic D’Antoni. MOTION CARRIED unanimously. Mr. Marino told the Board that there have been approximately 430 abatements filed for 2011 which is a little higher than normal. He explained that taxpayers are comparing their assessed value to the bank re-sales and short sales without realizing that assessments must be based on arms-length transactions or "qualified" sales which are labeled on our website. We find that the market is still down but hopefully will level out. Mr. Marino asked if we have met Mr. George Farrington, who has been present today as a member of the public observing the meeting. Mr. George Farrington was welcomed and Mr. Marino told the Board that he believes Mr. Farrington's name will be presented to the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee for consideration at their meeting the end of April and shortly following that will go before the full Board of Aldermen for their vote on his appointment, and assuming Mr. Farrington is appointed, our current member/chair, Ms. Marylou Blaisdell will become an alternate member of the Board of Assessors. She will remain an alternate member for the following three months, during which she will only attend meetings should it be necessary to maintain a quorum. The Board of Assessors will have to have an organizational meeting to appoint a new Chairperson. Mr. Marino told Mr. Farrington that he will be sent a copy of the various laws pertaining to the various items that the Assessing Department deals with and processes. MOTION BY Marylou Blaisdell to adjourn at 8:40 AM. SECONDED BY Kevin Moriarty. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 3 of 3