As the deadline for the Rindge Select Board to approve or deny an unprecedented number of abatement requests looms, the board is still waiting for recommendations from the town’s assessing firm on several cases.
The board has until July 1 to make a final decision on whether to approve or deny abatement requests, but according to Town Administrator Max Vandervliet, there have been delays in the process. Avitar Associates, the town’s assessing firm, has yet to submit its review and recommendations on all of the abatement requests.
The town had a large influx of abatement requests this year after a whole-town assessment resulted in spiking property values, with residents seeing values rise as much as double or triple. This resulted in a series of meetings with the Select Board, where residents protested their valuations and the models used to reach them, with several neighborhoods suggesting their values had been inflated. Lakefront properties and the town’s mobile home community, Monadnock Park Tenants Co-op, were among those that protested the new assessments.
Overall, the initial assessment increased town values by about 97%. The town went through a revision process with Avitar in the immediate aftermath, with adjusted figures resulting in an average increase in residential values of about 89.7%.
Adjustments have already been made to properties that challenged their assessments based on incorrect information, such as being assessed for more bedrooms or bathrooms than they have.
About 250 abatement requests were filed — enough that the Select Board approved additional hours for the assessing clerk’s office this spring to deal with the extra workload, including abatement applications and resident questions.
According to Vandervliet, the board has reviewed some of Avitar’s recommendations, including a batch of about 60-65 abatements last month related to Monadnock Park Tenants Co-op. Vandervliet said the board accepted Avitar’s recommendations on those abatements, which were to deny all but one.
The board was scheduled to review another, smaller batch of abatement requests during its Wednesday meeting, covering several individual properties.
That leaves many abatement requests still in limbo with only two weeks until they are automatically denied.
“Avitar has committed to having as many [recommendations submitted to the Select Board] as they’re able to by July 1, but it’s unlikely we will have all into us by July 1,” Vandervliet said.
Vandervliet said some of the delay stems from Avitar being a new assessment firm in town this year, including correcting valuations done by the previous firm after Avitar found — and the Department of Revenue Administration confirmed — that calculations may not have been truly reflective of existing values at that time.
“We understand how frustrating this is, and I want to make it clear that the Board of Selectmen and I have been pushing for updates and trying to get things moving as best we can,” Vandervliet said. “Same goes for our assessing clerk, Jennifer Helsel, who has been juggling a lot and working to her fullest capabilities.”
After July 1, any abatements not reviewed by the Select Board and officially granted or rejected are automatically considered denied under state statute.
Anyone who has been denied by the Select Board, or denied due to a lack of decision, may appeal. Appeals can be filed with the Board of Tax and Land Appeals or the Superior Court.
Regardless of any appeal, the town retains the authority to grant or deny pending abatement applications. Any approved abatements resulting in adjusted property assessments will be reflected in the December tax bill.