“Everybody’s talkin’ at me, can’t hear a word they’re sayin.” Harry Nilsson coined this phrase in 1968. Today, this is the belief of many of our town citizenry when it comes to the elected Board of Assessors. Ever since the most recent tax bills were sent out in early January, the public outcry has been loud and clear. How is it that the assessed values and corresponding taxes on a large number of homes increased so dramatically in one year? And why has the Board of Assessors been so slow to respond to these questions?
When Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer presented his annual State of the Town address on January 24, he and the Select Board were repeatedly asked to address the issue of increased assessments. Kezer and members of the Select Board explained, correctly, that as currently established, the Board of Assessors is a separate and distinct entity within our governmental body and, accordingly, these questions should be presented to and answered by our elected assessors who by statute are charged with the responsibility of determining real estate values and the annual tax rate to be applied.
Increasingly, transparency has been demanded of our town leaders, most if not all of whom will speak strongly in support of such action, yet time and again we are kept in the dark on a wide range of issues. This past year much of the focus on the lack of transparency has been on our School Committee, but clearly they are not alone in needing to be reminded how vital it is to have open debate, discussion and dissemination of information to ensure that the public is afforded the basic respect it deserves on all matters involving the operations of our local government.
Which brings us to this basic question. How did things get so out of control regarding the recalculation of property values and major increases in real estate tax assessments? Surely the Board of Assessors had to know there would be legitimate questions about this process. Why did they not hold public hearings in advance to let our homeowners know how and why there would be such radical increases to so many properties? And why, once ‘Headers began to call for answers, did they not immediately schedule public hearings instead of choosing to go into seclusion when asked to address these concerns?
Town Meeting will be asked to approve Article 38 on the warrant which, if passed at Town Meeting and subsequently approved by a majority of voters at our June elections, will cause members of the Board of Assessors to hereafter be appointed by the Select Board instead of being elected. This would bring the Board of Assessors more into the arena of our Finance Department, a logical place to be, and they would be accountable to the Select Board. And should this pass, then in future years the Select Board’s annual State of the Town meeting would be the appropriate forum to address assessment-related concerns such as have surfaced this year.
It is unfortunate that this article needs to find itself on the warrant, but the Board of Assessors has only itself to blame for failing to hear what so many people were sayin’. We support the passage of article 38.
