Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of August 15, 2013 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, August 15, 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 George Farrington Marylou Blaisdell Assessing Staff Present: Angelo Marino Doug Dame Drew LeMay Gary Turgiss Greg Turgiss Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: The minutes for the meeting held on July 18, 2013 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete listing of all abatements approved/denied is available in the Assessor’s Office. Mr. Dominic D’Antoni said that if an assessment is within 10% or less of the market value, it is at an acceptable level according to state guidelines and with this year’s assessments being updated and brought back to market value, he would like this to be kept in mind and only adjust assessments that have greater than a 10% difference from market value. An exception to this would be if the minor change is due to a data correction. Chief Assessor Angelo Marino told Mr. D’Antoni he believes he is linking two different portions of the process. The plus or minus 10% guideline pertains to the ratio for indirect equalization because there are so many variables in that process. It does not pertain to market value when an individual appraisal is done on a property for an abatement. These should not be mixed. You cannot look at the acceptable ratio and the parameters that have been established for indirect equalization and then say we are going to use this for the direct equalization process. This should only be used in the indirect equalization process. Mr. D’Antoni said he disagrees and would welcome a discussion about this with Mr. Marino at a later date. Regarding an abatement on the property located at 2200 Southwood Drive, for which Deputy Assessor Drew LeMay is recommending denial at this time, he advised they can expect to see this come before them again in the near future. He was not willing to agree to a settlement without having a signed agreement on file and had just heard back from the tax representative yesterday. He advised he would recommend this be denied at the municipal level and negotiated at the appeal level. Regarding three abatements on office condominiums located in the lower level at 39 Simon Street, Commercial Appraiser Douglas Dame advised the Board that the owner filed the abatements because these condos rent for substantially less than those on the higher levels. Mr. George Farrington asked if this is something that has never come to our awareness before and Mr. Dame advised that there are not many in the city that are lower level like this and the owner was concerned that the assessment was not reflecting this difference. The Board members concurred and approved these abatements. 1 of 2 Appointments: None Staff Items: Board member, Dr. Kevin Moriarty, has resigned from the Board after being made aware that as a member of the Board of Public Works, he cannot serve on any other city board. He will not be attending any other meetings as a member. The Board members and staff present said he will be missed and that he has been a valuable member during his fifteen years of service on the Board. Old Business: None MOTION BY George Farrington to adjourn at 8:40 AM. SECONDED BY Marylou Blaisdell. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by: Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 2 of 2