It is Wednesday, February 25th at 5:40 p.m. in conference room 1. The meeting for the board of assessors is now in session. Uh, call to order is John Kane who is not here. Dean Harachic here.
>> William Brown here. Rand Austin present. >> First on the agenda is public comment. There will be a two-minute limit. Per person, please. We're give it a minute. Oh god. Wait in
case somebody comes on just so that we can have everybody here. >> I don't see anybody on here, so go ahead. >> Hi, Beth Favier, 352 North Street. Um, first I do appreciate that my uh
baitment was approved. I still have some questions on how the new value was actually calculated. The adjustment doesn't seem to fully reflect the incorrect data on the property card. So, tonight I brought a few comparisons that I'll leave with you to review. I put together a comparison of Cape Style
homes that are grade three, the same classification my home should be. When you look at the data as a group, my property stands out. I've highlighted the example and I'm hoping somebody can walk me through what factors were applied differently in my case because based on similar homes with similar style and grade numbers just do not
appear consistent. Over the past several months, I've spent a lot of time educating myself on how property cards work and how the data flows into values and how those details affect residents beyond just taxes. I've spoken with two insurance agents who review property cards daily and they confirmed that
inaccurate assessor data directly affects homeowners insurance because it's used when calculating replacement cost and coverage. So, it's really not just about the assessment. It's about making sure that the underlying data is correct. I never expected educating myself on my own property card would
turn into a deep dive. But the more I look at the data, I see a high volume of incorrect or inconsistent information that raises questions and residents shouldn't have to reverse engineer numbers to get an understanding. Updating and maintaining accurate information is critical for
transparency, fairness, and public trust. And I hope in the near future a clear plan can be put into place to address all these corrections going forward. Thank you. >> Okay. Greg Dialy, Penn Salem Road. And I
just wanted to follow up on a public comment I made two months ago where I brought up I did an analysis of the impact of the reassessment showing that there are hundreds of properties that were evidently being charged hundreds of
dollars too much, including 42. They're over $1,000 too much compared to the new assessment. I applied it back to the the previous and I'd offered uh to provide that data, the spreadsheet, the data uh for anybody that wanted to review it. I
appreciated that Bill got back to me and and had some really good comments and good analysis that that made me comforted that there that he was looking deeply into the data. My initial concern about the data goes back to, you know,
especially me. I've been looking at it for a long time before, but listening to the May meeting and the reaction to the fact that the assessment to sale ratio was falling below the the state average standard. Uh
that there didn't seem to be good understanding of what should be done. There was no deep understanding of the data and they were talking about just doing an acrosstheboard residential increase. And that got me really concerned because I I saw a whole lot of
anomalies in the database that I thought they should go look at the detail. And I just wanted to to say that I hope that the board is taking this responsibility seriously and that each member is is digging deeply deeply into the data
which takes a lot of work. uh and anybody that really doesn't want to do that work or doesn't feel able should, you know, move aside so others could do it. But I just want to emphasize the importance because the board of assessors is ultimately the responsible
party to the residents for having fair assessments that follow the state law as closely as possible. And that's all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Did you say you have? >> Yeah, I'm just going to leave this.
>> You're gonna leave. Okay. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you for coming. >> Next on the agenda is to review the minutes of January 28th, 2025. There should that be 2026. >> Oops, sorry.
>> 2020. Sorry. Uh minutes of January 28, 2026. Can I get a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> I second the motion. >> Amen. Can we schedule a vote?
>> Yeah. Did you? >> Yeah. I was going to say, can I get a motion to approve >> the minutes? >> The minutes. >> Yes. Motion to approve the minutes. >> That's what I said. Um I Dorothic second in >> favor. All in favor? Bill Brown. Yes.
Doric. Yes. for new business. Can I get a motion to approve the January motor vehicle abatements? Make a motion to approve the January motor vehicle abatements. >> I Dean Raj second. All in favor? All in
favor? Bill Brown. Yes. Dean Harajic. Yes. Can I get a motion to approve the sewer betterment warrant? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Skip one. Can I get a motion to approve the invoice for the is it the Massachusetts Association of
Assessing Officers winter meetings? Make a motion to move the invoice for the winter meeting invoice. >> I Dean Ro second. All in favor. >> Bill Brown. Yes. >> Dean Roek. Yes.
>> So I did register for this. Reminder and I was like, did I reg? It's a good one. I probably should. >> We'll make sure it goes into the accounting tomorrow. Can I get a motion to approve the sewer betterment warrant and commitment for 21 Feeding Hill Road?
>> Make a motion to approve the sewer betterment warrant and commitment for 21 Feeding Hills Road. >> I Dean Hatchek second. All in favor? >> Bill Brown. Yes. >> Dean Hatchek. Yes. Motion's passed. Oh, okay.
Can I get a motion to approve the motor vehicle motor vehicle warrant and commitment 20 >> 257 >> 07. I'll make a motion to approve the motor vehicle warrant and commitment
2025-07. >> I Dean Horatic second. All in favor? >> Bill Brown. Yes. >> Dean Horatic. Yes. Motion passed. >> In case you're wondering that 07, we get about eight commitments from the registry per year. And so that would be the seventh one for for calendar year
2025. >> We might not sometimes we don't get the eighth, but that's what that's all about. It's just cleaning up some uh some last few transactions. Can I get a motion to approve the motor vehicle warrant motor vehicle warrant
and commitment for 2026-1? Make a motion to approve the motor vehicle warrant and equipment for 2026- second it. All in favor? Bill Brown. Yes. >> Motion passed. >> Yes. >> Dean. >> And you can see from the dollar
difference that the very last one in the year is much different than the very first one in the year when there's about over 10,000 bills. >> Yeah. It was only $9,3762 for the month of December where this one's over a million. And just for the general public
listening, if you didn't get a excise tax bill, it doesn't mean that you're not going to get one or that it was lost. Not everything comes out in the first commitment. The majority do, over probably 90% do, but some don't. And I did get a phone call from someone today saying, "Hey, I you know, I can get my
bill on this car." So, I told her, good for her that she was aware and and looking for it, but that it hadn't been issued yet. >> Right. >> Can I get a motion to approve all statutory applications?
Make a motion to sign all statutory applications. >> I second. All in favor? >> Bill Brown. Yes. Yes. Motion pass. Is there anything the board wishes to discuss before going into executive
session? >> Uh just an office update, I guess. Uh and we're continuing on trying to get through the abatements. Uh we've had a couple other things come up. Um we have some chapter land situations. Uh,
and I've been as I'm going through the abatements finding out more about some other things that I need to address in the database. Um, we got past um, you know, part of what was holding me up. I don't know if I mentioned this in the last uh, meeting is that we had a some personal property
bills that needed to get straightened out. And so I was doing a lot of research on that for probably over a week and it kind of interrupted my my uh, progress. But it was, you know, some of it resulted in bills that didn't go out that should have. And so I think
kind of became a priority at the time. But we're doing our best to uh make appointments and address uh the abatements. Uh initially we were trying to go by the different part of town, but since basically the middle of February, I've been saying, you know, let's kind
of try and get them at first come first serve because they all have a 90-day time limit on them, >> right? I mean, if I'm going out somewhere, we'll still see if we can, you know, uh, find someone else that might have, uh, applied later if they're next door or just down the road to try
and be more efficient as far as, you know, traveling around town and not have to go, you know, everywhere all over the place. But, uh, just to try and get as many in a certain area as I can. Um but for the most part we are trying to go um
now in a numerical order according to when they received and we're just getting up to the 30s or in the 30s now. So, um, other than that, um, it's just we're, you know, I was looking at the December or January
abatements and we probably had that many people come in today because the motor vehicle has gone out >> this afternoon and that's very big. >> Yeah. And so, it's that time of year and when all of the bills like 10,000 bills come out, then you know in there there are abatements that are needed and then
people start contacting us. So that is going to keep us pretty busy. >> Yeah. >> And um I guess really that's about it other than you know we're we're receiving back you know waiting for stuff to come back that we had sent out um you know forms
of list and 38C's for exempt properties. Oh, that's actually another thing that we're doing into the exempt properties. I'm kind of doing a review and trying to establish a better um system so that we have them all accounted for and then
have all of the proper doc documentation that we're supposed to have on file. And so we're we're looking at that and trying to clean up what we can in that uh that area
since it's that time of year and especially now when people are going to be contacting us with hopefully a current contact person. So when we get back to them to say, "Hey, we don't have your form PC or your 990 on file. You know, we need that for this year." Then we know who to contact.
And so yeah, that's about it, I guess, unless uh Zenica, could you think of anything I left out? >> I was trying to listen to what you said and what may be going on and uh you covered pretty much everything. >> Yeah, I mean I I talked about supplemental billing also, and I'm still
trying to get to that, but these I'm trying to bang these out and uh >> um you know, find the happy medium of whatever is the highest priority and and get that done. you know, we do have until June 20th, but I don't want to wait until June 19th to give someone,
you know, a three or $4,000 bill. So, um, that's another thing on our list, and we're going to be, uh, doing our best to address that. And then that's really about it. know for for me, you know, learning more about property cards and um you know,
hearing the the residents feedback related to to property values that definitely, you know, the plan for reevaluating all parcels, I feel we should you kind of um move forward into into the plan for that for FY27 with it being kind of the start of budget
season. Now, what do we need to do to prepare for for asking, you know, that's included in the FY27 budget so we can, you know, put together a solid plan, get these properties re-evaluated. >> And I'm glad that you brought it up because that is another thing that I have been working on. So part of us
submitting our budget was uh capital planning projects. >> And so I submitted that and actually also uh I I submitted one for personal property also because after what I uh found when I started digging deeper um I really think that it needs some
attention and that we should do the same type of thing. We need to audit or inventory our personal property and have an outside group. Uh I I'm uh you know recommending a certain outside group that I've dealt with before that is one of the best I think in the state. They have over 160 communities
>> uh that they're already in and um I think that it will pay for itself. Um you know and then some I think the estimate is going to be let's just say ballpark about $25,000 and we'll end up with about $100,000 in new growth from
that. Um, I anticipate the inventory if we do also approve and I put in for um at least for enough uh for the fiscal year, you know, because uh we're we're not going to be able to get someone
unless we had some, you know, cost us a lot more money. We could get someone coming and bang it out in one year, you know, inventorying the whole town or all of the single family residences or, you know, because that's over 3,800 inspections. And so, um, you know, it's it's sort of a two-year thing, but I
asked for a chunk to get it going. And, um, you know, once we have that in place, uh, we can start, you know, as they're they're saying, oh, there are data issues. I know that there are some. I, uh, you know, hope that people out there understand that the other, uh,
people we have coming in with their statistical analysis, um, don't don't aren't from the field. And so, uh, maybe I should just make this statement, you know, yes, maybe we do have a situation, but what do you do when you have a situation like that? You bring in someone that knows what they're doing
and you give them the support and the resources that they need to get the job done. So, we don't need people from the public volunteering their help when they don't have any previous experience. Um, and so that's what we've done by hiring me. And so, I need a chance and I need uh the general public to understand
that, okay, there's someone that has experience that's here. I'm just trying to say this. I I for the record for people that are going to be listening, you know, we're we're on top of it. We understand that this is a situation, but we're addressing it with a competent and experienced professional. And so, we we
don't need extra help. What we need is support and not criticism. Uh yes, there might have been things in the past, but we're not worried about the inequity that or what happened or why it happened. What we're worried about is moving forward and having correct and fair and equitable. So, um, you know,
that's that's what we're trying to do and that's what this data collection effort will allow us to do. Um, you know, not to mention other things that I'm, you know, finding also that we're going to be addressing as we go through. So, um, yeah, that that is in the budget
and we have been talking about it. I did submit that uh not like I said one project but two and so also for the personal property because I found some things that uh were being considered exempt when they're not you know they some of their information is exempt uh
but not all you know is identified as a corporation it's on the corporations listing that we have from the state but that doesn't mean if you're a corporation doesn't mean all of your personal property is exempt you know some of it and there's different things and so somehow it was misinterpreted
that this particular business was exempt and they were not. And so um with stuff like that going around uh that what with what I've seen, I just would feel a lot more comfortable if we we took care of that as soon as possible because it's not fair. You know, it's not fair and
equitable to the places that we have identified that are uh participating and returning their forms of list and doing their best to be honest and and uh straightforward. So, um, uh, and it's not, you know, a ton of money either and
it will pay for itself. So, that's part of why I think we should really get that going ASAP. And I put that in also. So, uh, that is something that could be completed for fiscal 27. If we got the funding for it, it would be done and we would realize that new growth in fiscal
27. And so, yes. Uh now one of the other things that you mentioned that uh popped into my head is for the general public we want to um give them more information on how to read your property record card and interpret the information that we
have that's making up the valuation. And I think did I send you a copy of the data collection manual? >> Okay. So there's a data collection manual. It's a manual that we're supposed to have and it basically goes through and explains all of the
different things. It will show this is a cape and here's a picture of the cape and a description of the characteristics of it and all of the different house styles. It will also go over the different grades that we have. So that talks about the quality of construction. It also talks about the depreciation if
something is average. Here's an example of what you're going to see if it's fair. Here's, you know, you're going to see a little bit of deferred maintenance and so on. Well, it's going to have a description there so that you'll be able to evaluate on your own really uh you know what is this what I'm seeing in my
house and then well what does this mean now I have something to show me and really it's more for us but once I got it and started looking at it I said you know this is exactly what we need to communicate to the public and and give them as much information as we can uh to
figure out their assessment you know and everything about it it's not a smoking mirrors or what's what's a property record card No, here's a property record card. Here's a guide that tells you what every little section on it means. And here's something even further saying that, you know, the entries in each of these and what is our standard, you
know, and explaining it even further. So, that I think is going to be a a great uh thing to put in place and have for the general public. Um, and then uh it keeps saying that there's two people responsible for the assessment. It's the assessor's office and it's the owner of the property. Well, the owner of the
property needs to be armed or have the resources of knowing, you know, or or as good an explanation of the property record card and how we're doing it as possible. So, um I'm not a fan of that transparency, but at the same time, providing information that, you know,
you need to know, I'm I'm all for that. And so, this is something that we'll be able to or we have a copy from another community. Now, we're going to customize it so that it's reflecting the uh the yeah, the information that's in our database and have instead of pictures
from this other town, it's going to be pictures of of, you know, residences in Southwick that are saying, "Okay, here's a Cape in in Southwick. Here's a you know, a ranch, here's a this or that, you know, whatever. If it's a modern contemporary, it's a Victorian, you know, whatever uh you know, colonial, we're going to have all these different
pictures." And uh there's even uh descriptions of different roof styles and that type of thing in it. It's and it it tells everything that we're doing. It's almost like a training guide for our per our uh personnel. So, but at the same time, it's a way to show the public, hey, this is what we're doing.
This is what you can expect when we come out to inspect. You know, if we're out in the field and we're going to come to your house, this is what we'll be doing. And so it goes over like one of the things that it says in there is that there won't be an inspection. If there's not someone that's 18 years or older at
the residence at the time and if there isn't then you just, you know, that's our policy is to leave. I'm sorry. You know, there's not, you know, anyone, you know, I can't come here when there's just a minor here and do any inspection. It has to be an adult. And so that's part of our policy and it's written in there that the, you know, hopefully
it'll make the general public a little bit more confident about what we're doing. And yes, there's a process. It's not just that we're coming in and uh doing whatever. So, is my two minutes up? >> Yes. >> Okay. I'm sorry about that. I got off on a tangent there, but but I'm excited about it because it will help hopefully
restore the people's confidence and give them a way to to figure out better what we're doing. >> And we're updating the our portion of the website with a lot of information that the people can look at. Yeah, we've already done that with the code book and the certification standards that people
were asking about. And this is another thing once we have it uh completed, we'll put this online so that people can see. And then, you know, here you can get your property record card. Here's something that tells you every section in the property record card and what's there. And then here's something that gives in and furthermore in that
section, here's all the different options that might be there and what they mean, >> right? And so, um, it will give the public, uh, not only a vote of confidence, >> right, >> but the ability to >> research >> research and and point out something
that may maybe their property record card doesn't exactly say, >> right, or something if they have any questions about how we're making it up, you know, and if they see something and and it's like, okay, well, you're saying my card here says AV for average, but
when I look at your code, It's fair. Sounds better to me. And like I said, there's two people responsible for the assessment. You know, we only know so much. So now it gets done. >> Wouldn't you say most of these property market cards have not been really updated for quite some time?
>> Well, I do see that. >> I know you're being being proficient and updating as you go, but >> I know that there were there have been updates that have been going on. It's just not like nothing has been going on. I can see notes from when inspections have been done,
>> but I also have heard that, hey, this happened and this inspection happened, but then I don't see the change either. So, um, that's part of why we want to just kind of reset and have this inventory of the of the town done and let's get it done. And then, you know, even furthermore towards what I'm talking about
>> is put some of the responsibility on the homeowner. Here, you you're not certain about your data. Well, look, here's all the information you need to understand how we're coming up with it or at least 90% of it. And then read this and then look at what we have for you and decide,
you know, you it's not arbitrary anymore. You have the facts to look at to say, well, this is what it the fact is that it says mine is is average. But when I look at your standards, it tells me it should be fair. And so, okay, now you've got something to go with. and you can point that out instead of, oh well,
I just feel it's too high when you're putting in your abatement application. And uh, you know, it's tough. Not everyone's a realtor or has a realtor background or anything like that. And so, um, for those people that don't have that experience, we're trying to provide the tools for them to be able to figure
out on their >> Y. Okay. to the Massachusetts General Law Chapter 3A section 21E 7 to comply with or act under the
authority of any general law- MG L chapter 59 section 60. The board will review and or vote on matters that are confidential under law including but
not limited to real estate abatements and exemptions. Board of assessors will not reconvene in open session after I Dean Horicek make a motion to go into executive session. Can I get a second? >> Bill Brown second then.
>> All in favor? Dean Rach. >> Bill Brown. Yes. >> The motion's passed. The board of assessors will now go into executive session.