As the state deadline to address abatement filings hits, Rindge has yet to receive recommendations from the town’s assessing firm on roughly 35% of abatement requests submitted by residents.
Earlier this month, Town Administrator Max Vandervliet said the delay in the board addressing abatements was the town’s assessing firm, Avitar Associates, not having submitted recommendations for all filings. So far, of the abatement requests Avitar has submitted recommendations for, the town has accepted those recommendations.
Of those the town has reviewed, Vandervliet said the town has approved full or partial abatements on about 20% to 25% of applications.
The town had an unprecedented number of abatement requests this year, over 250, after a townwide assessment resulted in spiking property values. Some residents faced property values that had doubled or tripled.
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%.
The Select Board was scheduled to deal with a slate of recent recommendations during its meeting Wednesday, but there are still many yet to be addressed.
According to Vandervliet, when including the anticipated abatement requests to be reviewed Wednesday, over 50% of the filed requests will have been addressed. The town received another 15% at the end of the day Tuesday, which will likely be on a forthcoming agenda.
Vandervliet said Avitar has been working to get as many recommendations as possible to the board prior to the July 1 deadline, including having CEO Gary Roberge involved in reviewing and processing abatement filings.
New Hampshire law and RSA 76:16 state that any filed abatements must be addressed by the town by July 1, and failure to act shall constitute a denial.
Though the town has advised anyone who does not receive an official acceptance or denial of their abatement request by July 1 should move forward with any planned appeals as if their application was denied, the town reserves the right to continue to review abatements. Any approved abatements resulting in adjusted property assessments will be applied and reflected in the December tax bill.
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.