Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of June 6, 2013 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, June 6, 2013 in Room 208, 2nd floor of City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 8:15 AM by Chair Dominic D’Antoni. Members Present: Dominic D’Antoni Kevin Moriarty George Farrington Assessing Staff Present: Drew LeMay Doug Dame Gary Turgiss Greg Turgiss Louise Brown Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: The minutes for the meeting held on May 16, 2013 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete listing of all abatements approved/denied is available in the Assessor’s Office. Mr. George Farrington asked what the general rule is when setting assessments in relation to the taxpayer’s estimate of value in their abatement. In the pool of abatements being reviewed at this meeting, he noticed that some are set below and some above. Both Residential Appraisers, Mr. Greg Turgiss and Mr. Gary Turgiss, agree that there is no general rule, it depends on whether or not the taxpayer has made all the necessary adjustments to the comparable sales presented and if the sales used by the taxpayer are appropriate for that property. Appointments: 8:30 – Mr. James Rowe and Mrs. Jennifer Rowe regarding late filing of required documents for Mr. James Rowe’s Blind Exemption Chair Dominic D’Antoni introduced the Board members and advised they have reviewed the documentation submitted and asked Mr. and Mrs. Rowe if either has anything to add. Mr. James Rowe said there is nothing more to add but as the letter to the Board indicates, the reason the form was submitted late is they were out of town due to a family member taking ill and 1 of 3 subsequently passing away. Upon returning home they realized they had missed the deadline to return the requested document. Chair Dominic D’Antoni advised that the Board will take this under consideration and they will be notified of the decision within the next week. If they do not agree with the Board’s decision they can appeal to the State of New Hampshire at either the Board of Tax and Land Appeals or Superior Court. Mr. George Farrington said rather than have the taxpayers wait to receive an answer, he would be perfectly happy to approve it now and Dr. Kevin Moriarty said he will second that. MOTION BY George Farrington to accept the late filing of the required document for the blind exemption of Mr. James Rowe as the reason is due to “accident, mistake or misfortune” as set forth in RSA 72:23-c-I. SECONDED BY Kevin Moriarty. MOTION CARRIED. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe then thanked the Board and left the meeting. Mr. D’Antoni addressed the Board members saying there should be consistency with how the Board proceeds when a taxpayer comes before them with an appeal and said if the discussion and vote is to be done before the taxpayer leaves the meeting, this should be done for all taxpayers who appear before the Board with an issue that requires a decision. Mr. D’Antoni said he feels since the outcome is not always favorable and the taxpayer has, for whatever reason, not abided by the law by submitting required documents late, he feels it may be better for the Board to further discuss the issues and the reason for the late filing and notify the taxpayer by way of a letter in the following week. Ms. Louise Brown, Supervisor of Assessing Administration, noted that the letter is usually mailed out sooner than that, sometimes right after the meeting. Mr. Farrington said he feels that the meeting is public and any discussion or decision should be made in public and he feels it should be handled while the taxpayer is present. Dr. Moriarty agreed with Mr. Farrington and said he does not see any reason to have the taxpayer wait for an answer but said Mr. D’Antoni is the Chair and the decision should be his to make. Ms. Brown wanted to be sure the Board was aware of why this paperwork was sent out to recipients of the Blind Exemption and said that during the State of NH certification process, on the administration side it is required that there be some contact with the taxpayer receiving the exemption or credit to make sure everything is still the same and the criteria is still met. In this situation it is a blind exemption and along with the general information being updated we asked if surgery had been done to correct their impairment, since this surgery is an option to some of those receiving this exemption. If surgery had been done, we would ask for an updated qualification letter from the State of NH to be assured the taxpayer still meets the criteria. 2 of 3 Staff Items Mr. George Farrington said in order to streamline the amount of paper sent to the Board he only needs to look at the summary sheet, comparable sales and the data sheet for the subject property being discussed. There is no need to send the data sheet for each of the comparable sales. If there is a question on the data for the comparable sales, this data is accessible on the website. Dr. Kevin Moriarty asked Deputy Assessor Drew LeMay why they were not fully informed of what was going on with the Radisson appeal. He said it is difficult to answer questions asked by the public when he was not made aware of anything. He said he would like a timeline of what happened; when and why it was decided to hire an outside appraiser, why we chose the appraiser we chose, when and why it was decided to hire outside counsel and why we chose the counsel we chose. He would also like a summary of what happened in court and why it was decided not to use our appraisal or expert testimony. Mr. Farrington said that this is a different board from other boards where you are elected to serve the public. This board is selected by the Mayor and because we are an appointed board he questions if that is their role. Mr. LeMay said he will be happy to put together a timeline of this case for the Board. MOTION BY Kevin Moriarty to adjourn at 8:50 AM. SECONDED BY George Farrington. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by: Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 3 of 3