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Home My WebLink About2012-05-09 Board of Assessors Minutes 7n C' 4._ (Is OF fit: TOWN OF READING _ "c 16 LOWELL STREET , -ri t: READING, MA 01867-2693 639 �xcoae° BOARD OF ASSESSORS TEL.: 781-942-9027 FAX: 781-942-9037 MINUTES MAY9,2012 MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER AT 5:40 P.M AS THE PATRIOT PROPERTIES REPRESENTATIVES WERE DELAYED IN TRAFFIC. IN ATTENDANCE: BOA PRESENT: MR. FRED A. MCGRANE,MR.RALPH A. COLORUSSO AND MR.ROBERT J. QUINN,JR. BOA ABSENT: NONE. PAT SULLIVAN, PETER HECHENBLEIKNER, BOB LELACHEUR,LAURA GEMME, KEVIN FURILLA AND KIM HONETSCHLAGER. 1. APPOINTMENTS: - JAMES J. MCCATHERN, CEO, PATRIOT PROPERTIES MARK M. HARRELL, PRESIDENT, PATRIOT PROPERTIES 2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING/S: NOT AVAILABLE. MINUTES CONTINUED 3. INTERIM TOWN APPRAISER'S REPORT: NONE. 4. SIGNINGS: - THE BOARD REVIEWED AND APPROVED ROUTINE MOTOR VEHICLE EXCISE TAX ABATEMENT REQUESTS AND CERTIFIED ABUTTERS LISTS. THE BOARD DECLINED TO SIGN FOUR TAX DEFERRAL CERTIFICATES THAT WERE PRESENTED AND ASKED THAT THE AMOUNT SHOWN THEREON BE CORRECTED TO INCLUDE ACCRUED INTEREST. 5. NEW BUSINESS: - 5a. Patriot Properties Fred A. McGrane began by introducing the participants. He stated that the purpose of this meeting was called to discuss the following: 1. Database Conversion from the CAMA system to Assess Pro. 2. Cyclical Inspection Proposal Approximately 4,200 properties will need to be inspected according to Pat Sullivan. Mark Harrell informed the Board that the data conversion was completed about a month ago. The CAMA data has been mapped into Assess Pro. Patriot has kept the same codes, but some of the labels have been "adjusted". Importing the property sketches proved somewhat difficult. Patriot is now looking to the Town for feedback on what has been done to date. The next steps would be "calibration" and the verification of"outliers". Jim McCathern noted that all FY 2012 assessed values have been carried over. He suggested that particular attention be paid to commercial and industrial properties (especially mixed use properties) and yard items. MINUTES CONTINUED Kevin Furilla noted that the Town would need to obtain a SQL Server License from Dell for each cif the 3 to 5 workstations involved. He also noted that the Town was considering replacing the older PCs currently used for the CAMA system. It was suggested that the installation of the new software be deferred until a decision was made with respect to the hardware so that it would only have to be installed once. Kim Honetschlager described what was required from the GIS perspective. Mark Harrell stated that the field review of the imported data is critical to the implementation process. He is of the opinion that MADOR will require every property (100%) to be reviewed. Mr. Harrell estimated that this would take one "good person" about eight or nine weeks to complete. In his opinion, a "good person" should be able to view between 150 and 300 properties per day. Patriot would be willing to do this work. It would charge the Town $6 or $7 per parcel or on a per diem basis. Mark Harrell suggested that the field review could be done in conjunction with the data inspection in order to save time. Every sale and every street will need to be looked at. Data collection should begin immediately. The Town could use the new system and old tables, as did Essex. There should be no problems getting the FY 2013 bills out on time. AssessPro and the Munis System work well together. Fred A. McGrane asked for a rough timeline. The conversion should be completed by June 1". The 4,200 cyclical inspections should take 10 weeks, followed by the field review. Patriot strongly recommends that one person (either Pat Sullivan or Patriot) take charge of the field review in order to ensure consistency, especially between neighborhoods. At this point (about 6:30 PM), Laura Gemme, Kevin Furilla and Kim Honetschlager left the meeting. Some technological issues were then discussed. The Board asked if a desk top review would be an acceptable alternative to a field review. A desk top review would utilize street level imagery available from Bing, Pictometry etc. MADOR has not fully embraced this approach, probably because Worcester had tried it with very bad results. Mark Harrell believes that it will probably be a few years before MADOR comes around to accepting it. Patriot then asked the Town to figure out what it would like to do: scheduling, price and project terms. • MINUTES CONTINUED The consensus of all present was to complete the transition to Assess Pro for FY 2013. Doing so would facilitate the triennial certification for FY 2014. Jim McCathern said that Patriot has worked well with Scott Santangelo (the Town's MADOR liaison) in the past. At this point(about 6:40 PM),James McCathern and Mark Harrell left the meeting. Peter Hechenbleikner said that he calculated a $61,000 budget shortfall based on what he had heard. He also questioned whether a full(100%) field review was required or whether a data quality study would suffice. Peter Hechenbleikner suggested the following course of action: • Bob LeLacheur to determine what is available in the budget, by year (including capital items). • BOA to go back to Patriot for some hard numbers. • Bob LeLacheur/Peter Hechenbleikner to ask FINCOM for additional funding,if required. Pat Sullivan will follow up with MADOR to determine what is required. 5b. Regionalization Update. Peter Hechenbleikner and Bob LeLacheur reported that they have had further conversations with Wakefield and Melrose to discuss the possibility of regionalizing the assessing function. Peter Hechenbleikner reported that Wakefield expressed"strong interest" but Melrose was not prepared to go forward at this time. It was suggested that the Board meet with their counterparts in Wakefield to determine if regionalization is something worth pursuing. Fred A. McGrane will provide Bob LeLacheur with some dates when this Board would be available to meet with Wakefield's Board of Assessors. 5c. 30 Haven Street: Peter Hechenbleikner passed on a question that he had received from Oak Tree. Oak Tree is apparently considering turning the ground floor retail space into condominiums and would like to know what the impact on the property's assessed value would be. MINUTES CONTINUED The Board first questioned whether it was possible to "condominium-ize" a portion of a building. Assuming that it was possible, the Board said that the likely result would be to increase the aggregate assessed value of the property taken as a whole. 5d.Johnson Woods: The Board briefly discussed the abatement applications for the six condominium units owned by the developer and decided to affirm their previous decision to deny all six applications. 6. General Business: RALPH A. COLORUSSO WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE JUNE 12TH OR JUNE 19TH. 6e. 643 Haverhill Street: The Board asked Pat Sullivan to contact the owner of 643 Haverhill Street in reply to her letter dated April 19`h 7. CORRESPONDENCE: - LETTER DATED 4/19/12 FROM ABATEMENT APPLICANT #48 8. NEXT MEETING(S): TUESDAY,MAY 15, 2012 @ 7:00 P.M. 8a: Anticipated Topics: MEETING WITH ABATEMENT APPLICANTS #37 & #42 ADJOURNED: 8:00 P.M. ATTEST: R ERT J. Q N,JR:SEC ARY