About 20 Raymond property owners gathered at Raymond’s Public Safety Building last Thursday to voice concerns over the recent revaluation.
Most of those attending own waterfront property, which was hardest hit by Vision Appraisal Technologies revaluation, increasing in many cases by two and three hundred percent from the previous valuation.
Some of these residents expressed frustration at perceived inaccuracies in their results as compared to similar properties. Others complained that their questions on the process were not being answered.
Although several had requested a model from the town that showed how Vision determined the values, they were told there wasn’t one.
When Tom Dostie, who lives on Deep Cove, asked Assessor’s Agent Amanda Simpson for a model, he was referred to an 82-page spreadsheet that he could photocopy for $1 per page.
Many at the meeting were outraged by being treated unsympathetically and in what some termed a “condescending attitude” by Simpson.
“I did not hear one positive statement from anyone at (Thursday’s) meeting indicating (Simpson) was helpful,” said Dostie, who is still looking for answers after meeting with Simpson on four separate occasions. “It appears that regardless of a perceived problem by the assessor’s agent, she seemed to take a stand that was inhibiting any sort of help. That’s troubling for me.”
Simpson says she’s overwhelmed by the amount of work. She made 350 site visits this summer alone. The board of selectmen discussed increasing her staff last year but elected not to. She works 32 hours a week for the assessing department with no secretary and no assistance.
“The level of frustration is due partly because I’m a one-person department. It takes a certain amount of time to respond to people,” Simpson said. “They can’t just come in and expect to talk to me. There are days I’ve had 100 contacts between phone calls and in-person visits.”
“I have had hundreds and hundreds of phone calls,” she added. “I believe these people who came to that meeting have real concerns. The reality is I didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear.”
Selectman Mark Gendron, who attended the meeting along with fellow Selectman Dana Desjardins, encouraged residents to write a letter to Town Manager Don Willard if they had problems with an individual employee.
And Willard, in a phone interview, concurred.
“If anyone has a specific complaint about their treatment, they should come to me,” Willard said.
Accompanying Gendron to the meeting was former Raymond Tax Assessor Mike O’Donnell, who helped answer some of the questions raised about procedure, valuations and the abatement process. He also pointed out that the recent revaluation reflects current real estate values in the area.
As evidence, Gendron offered a list of the 130 Raymond properties that have sold this year between January and the end of September. All had sold for at least their assessed value. This spreadsheet is now available online at the Raymond Web site.
Although Dostie still has questions, he was pleased overall with the meeting.
“I got a lot of great information from Mike O’Donnell,” he said. “I was pleased to see the selectmen show up – it shows genuine concern for the people. Good ideas were discussed. I thought it was productive.”
One result of Thursday’s meeting is that the town is in the process of scheduling a group meeting with Vision Appraisal to give property owners a chance to question them about the model they used and about other revaluation issues.
“Some people want to understand the technical aspect of how they establish values,” Willard said. “Within the next 30 days at no additional cost, Vision Appraisal will hold a meeting. We’re aiming for the second week of January.”
According to Willard, the revaluation process and the town’s response are normal procedure.
“We did what most towns typically do,” Willard said. “People could come to town office with questions.”
The meeting at the Public Safety Building followed Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting during which a number of unhappy residents who attended expected to have the opportunity to debate their revaluation figures with the board before it voted on abatement recommendations. But the board decided not to hear residents’ individual property comments, choosing to approve all 40 of Simpson’s supplement and abatement recommendations.
“I could not make a judgment any better than what Amanda has made tonight,” said Selectman Mike Reynolds. “That is why it needs to go to the Board of Assessment Review.”
This review board is the next step in the appeals process. Any property owner who filed an appeal and is not satisfied with the decision of Simpson and the Board of Assessors, also the Board of Selectmen, may appeal to the Board of Assessment Review. If it denies the appeal, the property owner may elect to appeal the decision to Superior Court.
So far, Simpson has received 155 abatement requests. It is not too late to file.
Willard recognizes that some residents are upset about the revaluation but he points out that, at $9.30, Raymond’s tax rate is one of the lowest in the county.
“The only consolation I can think of is you can’t live in any of the other Portland communities for any less,” he said. “We tried to keep our rate down – our valuation doubled but it halved our rate.”
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