Office of the Select Board
Town of Orange, New Hampshire
Minutes of February 23, 2015
Present: Betty Fulton, Chair; Bob Ells, and Sandi Pierson (clerical). Pat Mercer was absent. Others present: Sam Greene from the DRA and Mark Stetson from Avitar
Meeting opened at 8 AM.
The Board met with representatives from the DRA and Avitar to discuss the 2015 town-wide revaluation and to review the Assessing Review Standards as sanctioned by the NH Assessing Standards Board.
It was affirmed that the reval contract was reviewed and approved by the DRA. An insurance certificate is on file at the Selectmen’s office and the town is not requiring a bond. Mark expects to begin the field work as soon as the depth of snow allows and conclude approximately October 15. He recommends the Select Board file an extension request on the MS-1 (Summary of Valuation of the Town) to accommodate the finish date. A full assessment report will be submitted to the Board upon the reval completion.
Mark reviewed Avitar’s standard protocol on how “posted property” is assessed. If the property is posted, Avitar basically goes to the door to see if anyone is home. If the entrance is posted and gated, they do access the property.
After the field data has been collected, Avitar will send each property owner a postcard giving them an opportunity to set up an appointment to discuss their new assessment. Individual assessment data will be available to the public online. Bob and Betty concurred that if a resident does not have internet access or does not have computer proficiency, they may contact the Select Board’s office and have Sandi assist them on a Monday or Friday morning. The Board and Mark agreed that Avitar can set up the appointment dates in conjunction with Grafton (also a 2015 reval town by Avitar) so more appointment day choices are available.
The Board agreed that an informational mailing to the public about the general reval procedure can be in conjunction with this year’s informational directory mailing.
Sam reviewed with the Board and Mark the guidelines regarding data collection and stated the DRA will review and report on 36 random reassessments. The DRA will also be conducting “exit interviews” with property owners after their consultations with Avitar.
Sam explained the variations of how the utilities are valued (for taxation purposes) by the State and an assessor. Mark stated that, like most towns, Orange uses the assessor’s value which is generally higher than the State’s assessment system. Sam stated that the Canaan Speedway’s noise impact as a depreciating value to properties is no longer applicable.
The Board, Mark, and Sam reviewed the assessment review standards for Avitar and the DRA which includes the ratio of uniformity of assessments, availability of records per RSA 91-A, current use data requirements, exemptions and credits, data accuracy, and DRA compliance.
Mark stated that the DRA sets the high and low ranges for timber tax billing and what is charged to the landowner is determined by a grading report of the property (also called the Marlow Matrix). It was noted that historically the town has used the midpoint of the DRA timber tax ranges for all yield tax bills. Sandi stated that very few current use land owners have submitted a grading report and that she is requesting them during the office update. She said the current use update has been put on hold in order to address the acreage/tax map discrepancies. After discussion, Betty and Bob agreed Sandi should send a grading report form to every current use land owner and request they return it promptly. Mark stated that if the property owner does not return the grading report, the timber tax may be charged at the high end of the range. There are 132 current use parcels with a total of 95 owners.
Mark stated that during the reval, if it appears that acreage on any property should be removed from of current use, he will notify the Select Board’s office with his recommendation.
Meeting adjourned 10:10 AM.
Respectfully submitted, Sandi Pierson
______________________ Betty Fulton
______________________ Robert Ells
______________________ Patricia Mercer