Board of Assessors

Minutes of the Board of Assessors Meeting of April 2, 2015 A meeting of the Board of Assessors was held on Thursday, April 2, 2015 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 Douglas Dame Greg Turgiss Gary Turgiss Louise Brown Cheryl Walley Minutes of the Meeting: The minutes for the meeting held on March 19, 2015 were approved. Abatement Requests Presented: A complete list is available in the Assessor’s Office. Residential Appraiser Gary Turgiss presented nine 2014 abatement applications for homes in the Trestlebrook development, saying recent sale prices on these properties have been significantly lower than the assessments. He said he and Chief Assessor Angelo Marino have discussed this and intend to adjust these assessments for the 2015 tax year to bring them closer to their current market value. In response to why one assessment is quite a bit higher than the other eight, Mr. Turgiss replied most properties in Trestlebrook are ranch-style homes built on slabs with no foundation. The property with the higher assessment is one of the twelve in Trestlebrook that have foundations and are an actual raised ranch-style home. These are also the newest homes in the development. The others are quite a bit older. The Board approved all nine abatements. Regarding several Proration Applications which were received late, Residential Appraiser Greg Turgiss told the Board that since this law (RSA 76:21) became effective 4/1/2013, it is something very few people were aware existed. He said the City is now reaching out to owners of property who have had an unintended fire or natural disaster cause damage to their property and are making them aware of this assessment proration option now available to them. Considering this, he is recommending that these four Proration Applications filed on the properties located at 72, 74, 76 and 78 Cherry Hollow Road be accepted late. The Board concurred and made the following motion: MOTION BY Robert Earley to accept the late filing of the 2014 Proration Applications on 72 Cherry Hollow Road, 74 Cherry Hollow Road, 76 Cherry Hollow Road and 78 Cherry Hollow Road. SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Turgiss in total presented six Proration Applications and was asked why some had no value and others have some value during the proration time frame. He said the proration is based on the assessed value of the 1 of 3 property during the time it is uninhabitable. The assessments for condominiums or mobile homes are for the building only as the land is either under common ownership or leased. If the building is deemed uninhabitable, the assessed value is $0 from the date of the disaster to the date a Certificate of Occupancy is issued by the City. If the assessment includes land, that would still be taxed during this time period. Appointments: None. Staff Items: Supervisor of Assessing Administration, Ms. Louise Brown presented corrective “Current Use – Land Use Change Tax Lien Release – RSA 79-A”, forms for Map B/Lots 20 and 57. The amount of Land Use Change Tax resulting from each of these corrective lien releases is $0, so no warrant is necessary. These lien releases were signed by each of the Board members. The members were sent information on two new charitable exemption requests. One submitted by Teen Challenge New England, Inc. for their property located at 36 Tolles Street and the other submitted by Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity for their property located at 42 Nottingham Drive. The members were also sent information on one new educational exemption request submitted by Rivier University for their property located at 2 Robinson Road. After some discussion regarding the criteria set forth in RSA 72:23 and whether or not each of the organizations have met this criteria with regards to the property for which the 2015 A-9 was submitted, the following motions were made: MOTION BY Robert Earley to approve the charitable exemption submitted by Teen Challenge New England, Inc. for their property located at 36 Tolles Street as all the criteria has been met to qualify for this exemption. SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION BY Robert Earley to approve the charitable exemption submitted by Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity for their property located at 42 Nottingham Drive as all the criteria has been met to qualify for this exemption. SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION BY Robert Earley to approve the educational exemption submitted by Rivier University for their property located at 2 Robinson Road as all the criteria has been met to qualify for this exemption. SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. The members were also sent an A-9 and other paperwork filed by Heritage Baptist Church for their property located at 105 Lock Street, which has been receiving a religious exemption for several years. The building is currently under construction due to a situation beyond their control. Pastor Hileman sent the Board of Assessors a letter explaining that the building suffered extensive damage caused by a fire (on July 13, 2014). They have been working on the renovations and getting the building ready to have services in it again with a target date of Easter Sunday, but due to the bitter cold winter the progress has been slower than expected and they will not be having services in there on Easter. His letter asks for the Board’s understanding saying that 2 of 3 they have no plans to use the building for anything other than their religious services and teaching once the construction is complete. With the paperwork filed by the Heritage Baptist Church, the members were sent a copy of a 2013 Board of Tax and Land Appeals (BTLA) decision, University of New Hampshire School of Law v. City of Concord, which grants the educational exemption stating “the property was predominantly exempt prior to the construction and 100% exempt after the construction is complete, indicating a continuing use of the property for educational purposes” and also cites several similar decisions concluding the same. Since the building is currently under construction to allow it to be used again for religious purposes, Mr. Marino advised based on this BTLA decision, he would recommend approval. After a brief discussion, regarding this decision and the current and prior use of this property, the Board concurred and made the following motion: MOTION BY Robert Earley to approve the religious exemption submitted by Heritage Baptist Church for their property located at 105 Lock Street as all the criteria has been met to qualify for this exemption. SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION BY Robert Earley to adjourn at 8:30 AM SECONDED BY Daniel Gagnon. MOTION CARRIED. Transcribed by: Cheryl Walley Department Coordinator 3 of 3