MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS
October 25, 2010
3:00 PM STARBARD BUILDING
Members Present: Beverly Potvin Kenniston and James Dillon
1. Acceptance of Minutes
Motion was made by Beverly Potvin Kenniston and seconded by James Dillon. It was voted to approve the minutes of the September 27, 2010 meeting.
2. Miscellaneous Items
The Principal Assessor is working on the Recapitulation Sheets and supporting document in order to set the Fiscal Year 2011 Tax Rate. It is expected that the tax rate will increase since the total valuation of the Town has decreased again this year. Final numbers will be available for the next Board meeting.
The Town of Holden has scheduled a Special Town Meeting on Monday, November 8, 2010. The Fiscal Year 2011 tax rate cannot be set until after this meeting. There are only four (4) warrant articles being voted upon. Article #2 and #3 are money articles and although will not impact the tax rate, will cause the delay in setting the tax rate until after the meeting.
The assessors' office budget for FY2012 must be submitted to the Town Manager by December 8th. Reductions in State aid are anticipated. As a consequence, each department must submit a level service budget and a budget with a 10% reduction indicating service reductions resulting from such a cut. In the case of the assessors’ budget, a 10% reduction would have serious consequences because it would result in personnel cuts affecting the Town’s financial well being.
The Classification Hearing with the Board of Selectmen will be held on November 15, 2010. The purpose of this hearing is for the selectmen to determine the allocation of the property tax to be borne by the four classes of real property and personal property. Holden has always selected a residential factor of “1” choosing that each class of property maintain 100% of its full value tax share.
Beverly attended the Massachusetts Assessors Fall Meeting. The Lincoln Land Institute presented a program covering the current declining real estate market. Rose Johnson attended the Worcester Country Assessors Workshop on personal property valuations and data collection of commercial properties.
The next meeting of the Board of Assessors will be held on Monday, November 15, 2010 at 6 P.M. in the Starbard Building. The assessors will then adjourn to the Town Hall to attend the Board of Selectmen’s meeting for the Classification Hearing.
Respectfully submitted:
__________________________
Beverly Potvin Kenniston, MAA
APPROVED: _______11-15-2010____
| 
