Raymond residents’ continued dissatisfaction with Vision Appraisal Technology, partly caused by the company’s alleged unwillingness to answer questions concerning the recent revaluation, has the town pushing the Massachusetts company for yet another public forum.
During Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, residents charged additional inequities in the new assessments, prompting both the board and Town Manager Don Willard to say they would request another meeting with Vision as soon as possible.
Two homeowners expressed frustration at their inability to receive information from the town or from Vision that would explain their revaluation amounts.
Tom Dostie, of 98 Rosewood Drive, said he was still asking the same question he’s been asking since September. He said he simply wanted Vision to show him how their assessor determined the amount.
And resident John McGhie, of 3 Crescent Shore Road, also challenged the results of Vision’s appraisal and the inconsistencies from one property to the next.
Selectman Mark Gendron said he’d thought that by now, Vision would have given residents a model that would show how the company arrived at the final figures.
“We’re trying to get the people who can provide the answers to answer your questions,” Gendron said.
At a public meeting with Vision in January, the person responsible for Raymond’s revaluation had a family emergency and was unable to attend. That left a crowd of people without the explanation of the process that they had come to hear.
It was during that meeting that the Vision representative requested property owners to e-mail detailed questions to Raymond Assessor’s Agent Amanda Simpson so she could forward them to Vision for written replies. Although Simpson has received many questions and has sent them on to Vision, so far the company hasn’t returned any answers.
After listening to Tuesday’s discussion, Willard and the selectmen agreed that more needed to be done to get answers. Willard said the town is “trying hard not to waste the resources (it has) under the contract” with Vision but that he would push the company to schedule another meeting.
“I’m going to turn the gas up on these guys tomorrow,” Willard said. “It’s long overdue. I’ll put all the pressure on that I can.”
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