 |
Minutes
Selectmen’s Meeting
October 26, 2010
Members Present: Peter Bock, Gary Anderson, Mary Bonser and Town Administrator Charles Brown.
Guests: Board of Assessors members Jason Neuman, John McSorley & Gene Reed; Mark Nieder, Phil Bodwell, and Cheryl Gilpatrick from Commerford, Nieder, Perkins, LLC (CNP); Lionel MacEachern from NH Department of Revenue Administration (DRA); and Terry Bonser.
Others: Heidi Seaverns.
7:00 PM Chair Bock opened the meeting and asked all those present to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chair Bock introduced the Selectmen for the audience. He explained that this meeting came about as a result of a BOS workshop on October 22. Board members had concerns/questions about the revaluation and had extended an invitation to the BOA and to the contracted assessing firm, CNP. He then recognized the Board of Assessor (BOA) members-Chair McSorley, Mr. Reed & Mr. Neuman. Chair Bock then read the BOA’s Mission statement. He asked if the members had any comments. Chair McSorley passed on commenting. Chair Bock then stated that there would be no opportunity for questions about individual property assessments. He asked the representatives from CNP to sit up at the table to address the BOS. Ms. Gilpatrick handed out written answers to the questions asked by Ms. Bonser and Ms. Seaverns prior to the meeting. Ms.
Gilpatrick also handed out an Update summary, which outlined the results of the update. Ms. Bonser read the responses from CNP out loud. The first question dealt with Coefficient of Dispersion (COD). Mr. Nieder explained that the COD is a statistical measure of appraisal uniformity, which is calculated by dividing the average absolute deviation by the median and multiplying by 100 to get the percentage. The Median is the middle ratio of the ratios of assessment to sales in a given sample (sale period). It is considered the preferred measure of assessment levels. The average absolute deviation is the average difference between each ratio and the median ratio. He explained that the lower the COD, the more uniform the assessments are. The second question was how CNP determined the ratio and the COD. The third question asked for an outline of the age & the amount of data used in the sales analysis. The ratio and COD statistics are based on the 90 sales used in the sales analysis,
from April 1, 2008 through April 1, 2010. The sales were time trended down to reflect the market decline. Chair Bock asked if all the sale properties had been inspected. Mr. Nieder stated that all the sale properties had been visited and approximately half of them were listed. This percentage includes the actual interior inspections as well as verifications at the door and over the phone. Mr. Nieder stated that they also utilize the MLS listings, which indicate days on the market, asking price, selling price, property description and also any special circumstances-short sale, etc. Chair Bock asked if DRA would consider using short sales as qualified sales if the market continues to drop. Mr. MacEachern explained that DRA performs the equalization study in all towns yearly to keep track of market trends and up to this point, there has been enough activity so they do not consider short sales as qualified sales. The question was asked what an assessor does if there are no sales in a
neighborhood. Mr. Nieder explained that they would try to find sales in a comparable neighborhood within town. If sales within the town cannot be found, an assessor can go outside of town. There was a brief discussion about neighborhoods. Mr. Nieder stated that there were 4 major zones in town with sub areas within each of them. There are 12-14 distinct neighborhoods in town. The list will be in the USPAP manual provided to the Town after values are finalized. The fourth & fifth questions dealt with the drop in values and if the results in Nottingham had been compared to other communities in the area. Nottingham had a 17% drop in value overall. Mr. Nieder reviewed surrounding towns- Northwood reval in 2010 drop of 15%, Deerfield reval in 2010 drop of 21% (large utility made up for some of decrease), Barrington did reval in 2009-no data available, Raymond scheduled for reval in 2011 and are currently at 118.7% and Lee is scheduled for reval in 2011 and is currently at 114.4%.
Ms. Bonser stated she was disappointed that taxpayers would not get an opportunity to discuss their values gain before tax bills go out. Chair Bock asked Mr. MacEachern about his review of the project. Mr. MacEachern explained that he had not completed his field review yet, but to this point he had no serious problems with the work and the bottom line statistics look good. Mr. Anderson asked Mr. Nieder how many towns they had done revals on this year. Mr. Nieder answered that CNP had done 7 revals this year. Chair Bock asked if members of the BOA had sat in on any of the informal hearings. Chair McSorley stated he had sat in on a couple on Friday morning. Mr. Reed indicated he had stopped in during the hearings but had not sat in on any of them. Mr. Neuman stated he had not attended the hearings. Ms. Gilpatrick stated that there were 74 informal hearings, 24 of which were informational only. They had scheduled 26 phone hearings and had also taken 5 calls that had not been
scheduled. There were 12 appointments for inspections as a result of the informal hearings. Mr. Brown then asked if Mr. Nieder had a recommendation for overlay. Mr. Nieder stated he was not prepared to answer that question. He did mention that the trend this year, in all the revaluations that CNP had done, was to not have as many hearings scheduled as were in a year in increasing property values. Chair Bock thanked all involved for their work.
Having no further business,
7:40 PM Motion: Bonser, second Anderson to adjourn.
Vote: 3-0 in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Heidi Seaverns
Approved as written at the November 8, 2010 selectmen’s meeting.
| |
