Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of January 16, 2014 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, January 16, 2014 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 Robert Earley Daniel Gagnon Assessing Staff Present: Angelo Marino Louise Brown Andrew LeMay Greg Turgiss Gary Turgiss Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: The minutes for the meeting held on January 2, 2014 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete list of abatements presented is available in the Assessor’s Office. Appointments: none Staff Items: A discussion ensued regarding the fact that recent sales are being used to set an assessment when an abatement is filed. Chair Dominic D’Antoni said since recent sales were already used to update the assessments for 2013, they should not again be used to change the assessment when an abatement is filed, saying this is skewing equity. Chief Assessor Angelo Marino said equity is obviously important, however when it comes to abatements the only thing the courts will look at is market value. The courts compare it to the ratio of all other properties and then they equalize the market value to come up with an assessment that is appropriate for that property being appealed. They do not look at the assessment of similar properties to determine what the assessments will be for that particular property. Every property stands by itself in the courts when it comes to market value. It does not make any difference to the courts that the assessment being appealed was in line with other similar properties, if the market value used to set the assessment was incorrect. Admittedly we just finished the update but we have to analyze each abatement based on market value. It was noted that this issue was the subject of a previous meeting at which officials from the State of NH Department of Revenue addressed the Board members. The Board was told they will be sent the minutes of that meeting (April 18, 2013) along with a BTLA Decision that the DRA officials referenced at this meeting for their review. MOTION BY Robert Earley to adjourn at 8:34 SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by: Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 1 of 1