Revaluation
State Statutes require towns to periodically revalue all the real property within their borders. For Shore towns who have experienced skyrocketing home sales and prices in waterfront neighborhoods, revaluations present a destabilizing situation with dire economic consequences for long time homeowners. Branford must conduct its next full revaluation in 2009.
Having been through a revaluation during our previous administration, we understand the need to make the entire process much more transparent and open to homeowners.
To that end, we would:
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Involve the public in planning for the revaluation by setting up an oversight committee, with representatives of stakeholder groups in town, including neighborhood associations, condo associations, businesses. The committee would recommend if and how factors such as neighborhood or style of house should be used in determining the fair valuation of a property.
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Investigate having the Assessor’s Office perform the revaluations “in house” thereby eliminating being faced with proprietary software that prevents townspeople from knowing how values were determined, and allowing us to evaluate the quality of the information as it becomes available.
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If a company conducts the revaluation, require that it use the criteria developed by the oversight committee and provide the Town with the information about how values were determined. Knowing how the value was determined will allow representatives of the Town to determine if a mistake was made.
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Make adequate resources available for the informal review stage so that taxpayer concerns can be heard and addressed before going to the Board of Assessment Appeals or to court. People will get better answers about how their assessment was determined.
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Seek candidates for the Board of Assessment Appeals who understand valuation and will consider all the facts and make their decisions based on those facts. |
No matter how fair and transparent the revaluation process is, exponential increases in house prices disrupt neighborhoods and families in stable communities. We will work with our local Senator and Representatives to help bring about real change in our property tax system in order to address these problems.
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