Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of February 6, 2014 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, February 6, 2014 in Room 208, 2nd floor of City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 8:19 AM by Acting Chair Daniel Gagnon. Members Present: Robert Earley Daniel Gagnon Assessing Staff Present: Angelo Marino Andrew LeMay Gary Turgiss Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: The minutes for the meeting held on January 16, 2014 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete list of abatements presented is available in the Assessor’s Office. Appointments: 8:20 – Laurie and Mark Fiore – regarding denial of the 2013 abatement filed on 15 Melissa Drive Acting Chair Daniel Gagnon introduced himself and Mr. Robert Earley and advised Mrs. Laurie Fiore she can begin. Mrs. Fiore stated that since the comparable sales they provided did not qualify, she looked at the comparables provided by the Residential Appraiser, Mr. Gary Turgiss and feels that only one of the three sales actually is what she would consider a good comparable. The one on Colony Way is out of their neighborhood and in a more desirable neighborhood and the assessment is still lower. Another one is in the Bicentennial School district and theirs is in the New Searles School district, and said that being in Bicentennial School district raises a property’s value, but she said even that property’s assessment is lower than theirs. The one comparable used by Mr. Turgiss that was a good one was Glen Drive. That house is older but things are similar. Again this house is assessed much lower than theirs. The real estate person they spoke with told them they should look at houses in their own neighborhood to find those most comparable and using sales outside the neighborhood she feels is not a fair comparable. Of the list of properties supplied by the taxpayer, every house went down in assessed value with the exception of two. One property put on a second- story addition and their assessment went down $17,300. Mrs. Fiore said she doesn’t understand why their assessment went up $9,100 when they have not done anything to their home or pulled any permits. Residential Appraiser, Mr. Gary Turgiss, then began by saying he can address some of Mrs. Fiore’s concerns. Regarding the property that had a second story added, the permit was pulled on April 1st,2013. According to State of NH law the date of assessment is April 1st of each year and the assessment for that year can only include what is there on April 1st. The addition was not there April 1st, therefore the property was assessed as a raised ranch, which is what it was on April 1st, and with the update the assessment decreased by $17,500. Another one added vinyl siding and since it is not required to pull a building permit to add vinyl siding, the city was not made aware and the property is still listed as having clapboard siding. He said he will go out and confirm and change the data accordingly for this tax year. The assessment went up based on the update. 21 Melissa Dr. went up $9,000 and the taxpayer said it was because of the addition, however the addition had already been put on the property record card back in 2007. The assessment was $283,600 before the addition was added and after the addition was added the assessment went to $347,200. The 2009 update brought it 1 of 3 down to $290,400 and the 2013 update brought it up to $299,400. So this increase of $9,000 was not because of the addition, it was because of the update. Mrs. Fiore asked Mr. Turgiss if he had been inside each one of those houses and he replied no but he had looked at the MLS listing and photos. The reason he used those three sales is because they were larger gambrels and the best to compare to the subject property . Mr. Fiore asked if those homes have 2-car garages and he said all three have garages, 6 Maple Leaf Dr has a garage that is 484 sf and he made an adjustment of -$7,300, 19 Glen Drive has a 308 sf garage and he made an adjustment of -$4,600 and 17 Colony Way had a 552 sf garage and he made an adjustment of -$8,300. Mr. Fiore said they have lived in Nashua ten years and he is still having a hard time with the increase of $9,100 in assessment. They had a comparative market analysis done by Keller-Williams Real Estate because they had sold the house across the street which had been vacant. They listed it for $259,900 and sold it for $250,000. Mr. Earley asked if the house across the street that had sold had been vacant for awhile and he was told yes. He said generally houses that have been vacant are neglected and Mrs. Fiore said that may be true about the outside because no one was living there but the inside was very nice. Mr. Fiore wanted to know why they are being singled out when they have done nothing to their house to warrant the $9,100 increase. He said he is looking for some answers. Mr. Gagnon told him this is a market correction and the market has been rising. Mr. Fiore said then you would think it would be rising across the board at least at some level. He said he is just looking for fairness. Mr. Turgiss said he has nothing further to say. Mr. Gagnon said this information will be taken under advisement and they will be notified of the Board’s decision. The Fiore’s thanked the Board and left the meeting. Chief Assessor Angelo Marino told the Board members that it was evident during the update process that there were styles of homes that held their value, either because they were very attractive or there were fewer types of those homes. There are fewer gambrels and the colonials are more attractive than ranches, raised ranches and splits. Gambrel, colonial and cape style homes held their value or increased compared to their existing assessment. He said that Mr. Turgiss has laid out an analysis to look at that. Deputy Assessor Andrew LeMay said that Mr. Turgiss had gone ahead and made adjustments using the taxpayer’s data and the value came in higher. Mr. Turgiss confirmed saying using his data the range was from $255,500 to $268,900 and using the taxpayer’s data the range was from $260,600 to $281,800 after the adjustments were made. He said that was all sent to the taxpayers so they were made aware. Mr. Earley said he feels 11 Melissa Drive seems like a perfect sale to use as a comparable. Mr. Turgiss agreed, with adjustments made for square footage (subject is 623 sf larger). He said #11 is located right next door as there is no #13 on that street. It was noted that there really have not been that many gambrels that have recently sold and Mr. Turgiss said there are only 29 qualified sales from January 17, 2012 until November 22, 2013 and they are all smaller than the subject property. Mr. Marino told the Board members that they can vote now on this or think about it and bring it up at the next meeting. Mr. Earley said he is not familiar with Melissa Drive and would like to get more of a feel for it. Mr. Turgiss said he will send the Board members the MLS listings he used as well as those for the sales the taxpayer used, and also send the grid he used. Mr. Earley asked how having a granite kitchen would be entered in the assessment data and Mr. Turgiss said that if a kitchen has a granite countertop or a bathroom has similar upgrades, that kitchen or bath would be 2 of 3 listed as “good” rather than “average”. MOTION BY Robert Earley to table this decision on the 2013 abatement for 15 Melissa Drive until the next meeting. SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED Staff Items: Mr. Marino advised there are going to be two offerings for State Statute classes. Part One will be June 2, 2014 through June 5, 2014 and Part Two will be from November 3, 2014 through November 6, 2014. He said the City will pay if either of the members would like to take these and when more information is available he will let them know. He told the Board members they can attend to learn more about what statutes are pertaining to assessments, so they can know more about how things are done according to laws. Mr. Marino said by statute he is required to provide the Board of Assessors with an appraisal of the update. He said this is the restricted use appraisal of the project and it explains how the update was done. He told them that all the backup information is in his office if they would like to review it. He said he would like them to have a copy as it was done for them, as they are the client. He advised there have been 37 abatements filed to date so this is still quite a bit lower than average. The date to file for 2013 taxes is March 1, 2014. We are in February. He noted that in the 17 years he has been with the City, in the last two weeks of February the number of abatements doubles. He does not know why, but all the tax reps and attorneys will usually wait until the very last day to file. MOTION BY Robert Earley to adjourn at 8:55 SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by: Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 3 of 3