BOARD MEETING AGENDA
March 5, 2007
Selectmen Present: Mr. Parker, Mr. Methe and Mr. Yon
At 1:20pm Mr. Parker convened the meeting.
PRIMARY:
1:25pm MEET WITH GARY ROBERGE AND LAUREN MARTIN, AVITAR
Mr. Parker explained that we just received the order from the BTLA. He gave a synopsis of the assessment work that we have done since the 2001 Revaluation. There were some problems as a result of the 2005 update. One problem is that the view factor was not being applied to all properties that had a view. Also, some that had a view adjustment didn’t have a view. There were also issues regarding the antique appeal rating. Mr. Roberge said that they had a similar situation in their office. There is a problem determining when a house was built which could cause problems with capturing all the properties that should have an adjustment. Mr. Parker said that there weren’t good descriptions of what each of the appeal ratings was. We need to come up with justification for it or revise it.
Neighborhoods are a problem as are properties on the water. Vision said there was no time adjustment. The BTLA says there is.
Mr. Roberge said he understood what the selectmen were looking for - fair, equitable assessments with “transparent” documentation. We want people to understand how their assessment has been calculated. Ms. Martin said that they have spent a lot of time developing their manual to do just that.
Mr. Parker said his memory about Avitar goes back to Troy. Mr. Roberge said that they converted Troy to their software and did an update of values. There were 9 or 10 gravel pit properties they had problems with. At that time the State was requiring the assessments of active gravel pits to be at the highest commercial/industrial value. That part of the statute was eventually repealed.
Mr. Parker said that the board wants best job we can get – money isn’t the driving factor.
Mr. Roberge asked if the selectmen would consider petitioning the DRA to change our Assessment Review year from 2009 to 2012 since we will be doing a complete sales study for 2007. This might be a problem because we are in a school district with 7 other towns and we are all supposed to have the same Assessment Review year.
They are in a situation with helping Tilton who has similar problems to ours with Vision. Mr. Roberge said they have no desire to work with Vision software. They have their own assessing, tax collecting and town clerk software that is completely integrated.
Mr. Roberge said he started with MMC in the late 70’s. In 1985 they sold the business and he left in 1986. The software Vision is using came out of Texas in 1967 and was rewritten by Mr. Roberge in 1980’s. He started doing assessing work on the side and worked with a number of towns to start a company to do their revaluations. He wrote the current assessing software based on story height instead of style in 1987.
It is now SQL environment, not a DOS environment. There are 110 towns using their software in NH. The software is designed specifically for NH so that it properly manages current use. There were a lot of users in the state that worked with him to develop/evolve the software. Assessing, tax billing comes from the same database. Mr. Parker asked if they could tie in with BMSI. Mr. Roberge said that there is not an electronic conversion for Avitar to BMSI. Mr. Parker said that would be a big issue for us. Mr. Roberge said that he understands that. There are export files from the Avitar assessing file to handle tax billing.
Mr. Yon said that we are contracted with Vision to do the last 1/3 of data collection. Mr. Roberge said he would not be responsible for their data collection. He said we would be better off finishing the data collection contract with Vision. Mrs. Thompson said that the person who has been doing the data collection is very meticulous.
We would have to buy their software if we were to have them do the update. We wouldn’t necessarily have to purchase the tax software if the tax collector was against using it.
Mr. Parker asked how they assess waterfront property. Ms. Martin said they assess the basic lot value and then assess the waterfront separately.
Mr. Parker said that the selectmen would like a quote including the software and a sales update for 2007. Mr. Yon asked how many years of sales do they look at when they do the update. Mr. Roberge said that they try not to extend the sales past 18 months at the most. Time trending is highly speculative. He said that if there are enough sales available in a 12 month period, they’ll only use that 12 months. Mr. Yon asked if they use sales data from other towns. Mr. Roberge said that there are some conditions where information from other towns is important, for instance with waterfront, buildable and unbuildable lots. They draw on their experiences from all over the state.
Mr. Parker asked if they would defend their work if it is challenged by the BTLA. Mr. Roberge said that they would and this would be part of the contract, there would be no additional cost to the town. He said that Avitar is assisting 110 towns in the state with assessing.
Mr. Yon moved to adjourn at 3:08pm. Mr. Methe seconded and the motion passed 3-0.
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