TOWN OF NEWBURY
Board of Assessors
Meeting Minutes
March 19, 2013
The meeting was opened at 5:00 p.m.
Present: E. Peter Murphy, S. Wechsler, C. Keville
Chairman: B. Kelley
Old Business
Abutter list fee increase – Tracy Blais, Town Administrator submitted a new form to request an abutter list and requested the fee be increased to fifteen dollars from five dollars. This change is believed to standardize the process. Budd motioned to adopt the list and fee increase. Sandy seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Oceanfront homes – Tracy spoke to the board regarding potential tax relief for the Plum Island homes that were or will be lost. Supplemental billing was discussed but it was said that when the program became automatically affective unless opted out by cities/towns Newbury did opt out of the program. This is something that can be revisited in the future. It may be possible to request special legislation to use the home rule petition. Bob Connor may be a source of information on past issues dealing with this issue.
Normal Business:
- Minutes – The minutes for the February 19, 2013 meeting were read and accepted.
- Monthly Manager’s Meeting update - held 3rd Wednesday of each months.
- RE & PP Abatements – At 5:30 Budd motioned to enter into an executive session to act on real estate and personal property abatements. The public meeting will be continued immediately preceding the session. Sandy seconded the motion. The following roll call vote was taken.
Budd Kelley – yes
E. Peter Murphy – yes
Sandy Wechsler, yes
At 6:00 Tracy joined the meeting. She informed the board that the Finance Committee had approved the Principal Assessor position. The screening committee will consist of the Town Administrator, Finance Committee and Budd Kelley, Assessor Chair.
Office work- Carrie informed the board that the boat billing file was committed today.
A packet of motor vehicle abatements were submitted for the board to approve.
Sandy motioned to abate all applications put before the board. Peter seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Page 2 Meeting Minutes March 19, 2013
Sandy moved to in-act an authorization for the Administrative Assessor to receive and review all applications for abatement of motor vehicle and/or boat excise tax as well as real estate exemptions and to determine if each such application is valid and complete. See attached authorization. Peter seconded the motion. All were in favor to be effective upon signing.
The authorization will be emailed to Tracy Blais, Town Administrator, per request, to send to town council.
Carrie asked if she needed a completed application if the information came from the Registry of Motor Vehicles. No cover was deemed to be necessary in these instances.
New Business:
Betterment procedure SoftRight - Carrie needs to check the balance with Angel to verify the totals using the remainder balances. Carrie will also verify the deferrals and suspended betterments.
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F. “Budd” Kelley, Chairman
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Sanford Wechsler E. Peter Murphy
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