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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-10-09 Board of Assessors MinutesOCTOBER 9, 2012 TOWN OF READING 16 LOWELL STREET READING, MA 01867 -2693 BOARD OF ASSESSORS TEL.: 781 - 942 -9027 FAX: 781 - 942 -9037 OPEN SESSION'MINUTES MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M IN ATTENDANCE: BOA: FRED MCGRANE, RALPH COLORUSSO, ROBERT J. QUINN, JR., ROBERT I. NORDSTRAND (ASSOCIATE MEMBER) BOA ABSENT: NONE OTHER: VICTOR SANTANIELLO & PAT SULLIVAN 1. APPOINTMENTS: - NONE 2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING /S: Mr. Quinn noted that he had prepared a memorandum for the file to document the cancellation of the Board's July 18, 2012 meeting at the suggestion of the Town Clerk. The Board then turned to the minutes of its July 2, 2012 meeting. Mr. Colorusso recalled that this meeting was initiated by Mr. LeLacheur for the purpose of evaluating the proposals for a full field review of the Town that were submitted by interested vendors. Mr. Quinn noted that he was not present for this meeting and that Mr. LeLacheur had kept the minutes in his absence. Mr. Quinn then passed around a copy of the draft minutes which were previously circulated by Mr. LeLacheur. Mr. Colorusso corrected some of the statements attributed to him. A motion by Mr. McGrane seconded by Mr. Colorusso to approve the minutes as amended was approved by a vote of 2 -0 -1. Mr. Quinn abstained on the recommendation of the Chair because he did not attend the July 2, 2012 meeting. Mr. Quinn then read aloud the draft minutes for the Board's August 21, 2012 Open Session. Some changes were made. A motion by Mr. McGrane seconded by Mr. Colorusso to approve the minutes as amended was approved by a vote of 3 -0 -0. The minutes for the August 21, 2012 Executive Session were approved in Executive Session later in the evening. 3. TOWN APPRAISER'S REPORT: Mr. Santaniello began by noting that he had rescheduled the pre - certification meeting with Reading's Board of Selectmen to October 23, 2012. The Board expressed some concern as to whether the additional two weeks would allow Mr. Santaniello enough time to adequately prepare, given everything else that he had going on. Mr. Santaniello was confident that his presentation would satisfy the Board of Selectmen. He promised to include a number of caveats in his presentation - preliminary figures subject to MADOR approval, etc. However, Mr. Santaniello acknowledged that he was "not even close" to quantifying the new growth in response to a question posed by Mr. Colorusso. Mr. Santaniello reported that he and Ms. Sullivan had made "incredible headway" since the last meeting. He had personally stopped doing data entry for a time to deal with other matters. There are approximately 500 properties that still require some corrections. Mr. Santaniello believes that these will all be finished this week. Looking ahead, Mr. Santaniello plans to import FY 2012 values using a "special save ". He will develop adjustment factors using sales reports that he is more familiar with. Mr. Santaniello said that he would "strive" to attain a COD ( "Coefficient of Dispersion ") of +/- 5% while noting that a COD of up to +/- 10% would be accepted by MADOR. The Board agreed that a COD of +/- 5% would be an appropriate target in response to Mr. Santaniello's request for guidance on this point. Mr. Santaniello responded to a question from Mr. Nordstrand by stating that he had not heard anything from the MADOR field agent assigned to Reading. He also noted that this was not unusual for an interim (non certification) year. Mr. Santaniello responded to a question from Mr. Quinn by confirming that a separate adjustment factor would be developed for each property category (e.g., single family homes, condominiums etc.) Mr. McGrane stated that he was "very encouraged" by the progress to date and asked Mr. Santaniello if he was "still comfortable" with all that is going on. He replied that he was. 4. SIGNINGS: - NONE 5. NEW BUSINESS: - Appellate Tax Board Cases. A motion by Mr. McGrane seconded by Mr. Colorusso to go into Executive Session to consider litigation/settlement strategy with respect to the Home Depot case now pending before the Appellate Tax Board and to approve the minutes of the August 21, 2012 Executive Session was approved on a roll call vote with all three members voting in the affirmative; the Chair having previously declared that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the Town. The Board reconvened in Open Session at 8:15 PM. Verizon Tax Abatements. The Board's briefly reviewed the letter dated September 14, 2012 that it had received from Chu, Ring & Hazel LLP on behalf of their client, Verizon New England, Inc. To summarize, Verizon is requesting that the Board approve two FY 2009 tax abatements totaling $146,028.12, plus interest. In return, Verizon says that it is willing to forego similar claims for FY 2005 and FY 2008. No abatements are being requested for FY 2010 or any subsequent year due to a change in the law. Interest continues to accrue at the rate of 8% from May 1, 2009. The Board estimated that approximately $41,000 of interest has accrued in the roughly 3.5 years that have elapsed to date. Mr. Santaniello noted that the letter was in the nature of a request and not "an order to pay ". He understands that another hearing was held today and therefore expects to hear a lot of "chatter" over the next few weeks on how other cities and towns plan to proceed. Mr. McGrane asked Mr. Santaniello and Ms. Sullivan to make Mr. LeLacheur aware of the situation and to update the Board at its next meeting. ADJOURNMENT: A motion by Mr. McGrane, seconded by Mr. Colorusso to adjourn at 8:37 PM was approved by a vote of 3 -0 -0. 6. General Business: 7. CORRESPONDENCE: - LETTER DATED 9/14/2012 FROM CHU, RING & HAZEL LLP TO THE BOARD RE: VERIZON NEW ENGLAND, INC. EMAIL DATED 9/27/2012 FROM VICTOR SANTANIELLO TO THE BOARD RE: HOME DEPOT 8. NEXT MEETING(S): TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 @ 7:00 P.M. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012 @ 7:00 P.M. (IF NECESSARY) 8a: Anticipated Topics: CAMA CONVERSION UPDATE DISCUSS UPCOMING ATB CASES VERIZON NEW ENGLAND, I NC. ABATEMENT REQUESTS 1 ADJOURNED: 8:37 P.M. ATTEST: "7 Z'e� A ROBERT J. qfINN, JR. -SE TARY