Meeting transcript
Board of Assessment Appeals - Real Estate Public Hearing
March 6, 2021 · Watch on YouTube · All meetings
Yes. Okay.
She'll find a way to get it off your computer. Yeah, it's right. Even if I have to go meet her and bring the laptop with me, we'll figure it out. Okay.
All right. Now, so I'm going to open the meeting at nine what time is it 09:02? Let me I gotta take the minutes too so call to order 09:02. I have a flag So we can pledge allegiance to the flag United States Of America and to the republic for which one nation under indivisible, with liberty, liberty, justice, and justice. We don't have any. All right, let me explain the NADA numbers. I had an awful time because it's hard for Roberta to explain things. Know some people, my husband's like that too, he can't give you good directions to go across the street. So I had to go down there several times and then she gave me one of the wrong books which I mean everybody makes mistakes so it's no big deal but it took me all week long plus my husband was in the hospital on Wednesday they had to take out his defibrillator battery and put in a new one so that took care of that day. Anyway, when when Roberta doesn't get a the motor vehicle a unregistered motor vehicle filing. She goes into the NADA books and she puts down, she uses the value of clean retail and that is because the statute, and she gave me a copy of it, requires her to do that. But on registered motor vehicles, when she has to value them for whatever reason, and that's I have the letter from the state of Connecticut telling her that you know to use that. But she has no other
qualification for unregistered motor vehicle so she does that which of course we know when it's unregistered especially you know if it's just sitting there. We have a 1947 Jeep in the corner of the garage that my husband used to race, and that's personal property. It hasn't been registered in twenty five years. It doesn't run, but it's personal property. But it's certainly not worth probably what, you know, what the book says because it's just a doorstop right now. So those are the values. That's what I wrote, what I sent you was the values that the NADA book has. And there's a variety of, you know, portrayed in it's either rough or average or clean. So we can find a number somewhere in there to use.
So when we did this previously, it really helped to go outside and look at the vehicle.
Right, but on unregistered one, would have to go to their house.
Right, or they can take their phone or tablet and go out and walk around in the vehicle and show us something that would like there's no engine in it or the frame rails are totally rotted out. I mean, they can show us something exemplary, it would fall into the rough category. And as your rough clean retail differences rough is $11.75 in $20.17 and 4,300 for clean retail. We need to see why these appeals are basing
on a lesser amount. I need to see that. Well, like Dennis, he already turned his over to the handover junkyard or whatever and got $125 for it. The problem is that, not filing is what creates this problem. So if we can teach people that they need to file, and it's not that hard to do. I copy the same thing over and over every year. And basically, in the town of Andover, you can't value anything less than $500 because every town sets their own, and ours is set at $500 So the Jeep that we paid $300 for that is you know many many many years older doesn't run and isn't is now worth more than what he paid for it so but that is those are the rules
like it looks like somebody else is logging in. Galaxy, who is with us? Yeah, Galaxy S10. Galaxy S10 connecting to audio. Or maybe they're having trouble like we were.
Maybe it could be our first person should be Brian Modsley. He's on mute. He's muted. Brian, are you there?
Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Is this Brian Modsley?
Yes it is can you hear me? Yes I can. We can't see you but we can hear you. Okay perfect. Okay we we've been we've gone over well, we haven't yet, but we're going over your your appeal. And I don't know if you do business as Golden Hammer Builders. Right? Yep. Yep. And I guess you haven't filed personal property?
That's my question. Because I haven't filed a form, is that where they just come up with the assessment total?
Yes. Okay. I can tell you, it's not that hard to do the filing and it's to your advantage because you can value them at what you know they're worth. And then it depreciates, correct? It does. Georgette, you disappeared from audio.
Yes, we can't hear you Georgette. Did she hit a button? I don't know. I love these Zoom meetings. It's great. She's talking
a lot over here, but I don't know what she's saying. Wanna call her on the phone?
Georgia. Do you have her number, Alan? I'm not sure if I have it. Yeah, I gotta bring it up though.
Goodness. And I'm using my phone for the audio part here. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, let me see. This is funny. Of course, she might not pick up. Maybe your husband will. She's going on and on. Wow, all I got is her email.
Oh boy. Wait, I keep thinking later she'll look up and if I'm waving she'll she'll do something. He's just going on. Oh my goodness. Sooner or later she's gonna a question. You think so? Yeah and I'm not responding so. Is she her eyes are up? Oh nope.
Nope. That's right because Alan you can't even you don't even have the video. Nobody's on video but me so I guess I gotta just keep waving. Well you and her.
Keep waving. Go, wave, wave. To your mouth. We can't hear you.
Your audio. We can't hear you. Can you hear me? Point your ears. Point to your ears. Oh my goodness. Georgette, can you hear Can you hear us? Hello?
I don't think she can hear us because she's not even acknowledging anything. No. Yeah, something's gone wrong. Oh my god. It froze. See, this is why we needed Amanda.
Yep. We'll have to tell her that. All right, let me, I'm gonna check. Maybe I don't think I have her in my phone though.
Hopefully I can get back to Zoom once I'm done. Nope. I do not have her.
She's still going on. She must realize that nobody can hear her now. Or that she can't, she must not be able to hear us either. She'd know that we're telling her. On mute.
Oh, there you go. Hear me? Now we can. Yes. We didn't hear most of what you said for the last five minutes.
Alan? Yeah, I'm here. You hear me Georgia? No, we can hear you now. Yeah, we're good. Oh, this is crazy. Can you hear us?
Can anybody hear me? Yes. Now I can hear you. Yes. You can hear me. Yes. I can hear you.
I can hear you. Can hear us? Can you hear me? I can hear you, yeah. Can you hear us? I don't think she can. Nobody seems to be able to hear me.
You hear me, Linda? Wave at her, give her a thumbs up. Okay. Thumbs up, thumbs up. Alan, can you hear me? Yes, yes, yes,
my goodness, There's a mute button down in the corner. Has anybody pushed that mute button? No. Ellen? No. No. It says Georgette, no voice.
Sorry about this Brian. You think she'll read the chat if I type it in there?
It says Yeah, I'm just going to Oh, I mean, I mean, is simple. I mean, I'll just start I'll just Can I All right? Can you hear me? I can hear you. I can hear Can anybody hear me? Yes.
You're the only one Linda. No everybody, everybody can. Nobody else can hear me. Yes they can. You can hear me. I don't think people hear us. Oh my goodness. Alan? I can hear you.
Oh my my my my my. I can hear you. I'm gonna I'm gonna I wonder if I can reach Amanda. Does anybody know how to get a hold of Amanda on a Saturday? Let me see This is really stressful. I don't understand.
I had her cell phone but I don't know if I still have it. I can't hear anyone.
Yeah, so now we can hear her, but she can't hear us. Oh boy. It's like, no, it's before it was the other. Nobody can hear me and I can't hear anyone. This is crazy.
No, we can hear you. We can hear you. Read my lips. Yeah, I can't find anything in the settings that I can't find anything in my settings it's got to be something on her computer. Yeah, I agree. Okay, can anybody hear me now? We can hear you, yes.
You can. You're the only one. No, I can hear you. Nobody else can hear me. I can hear you. We can all hear you. I can't hear you. Yeah, that's the problem now. Okay, so she can hear you. Your phone thing is still there. Can you talk through that?
Yes, I am. You can't hear me? You can't. Oh my goodness. It's the internet. Exit full screen.
Well, Brian, it sounds like you need to file the form. Yeah.
That was what I got out of that one. Said a lot more. I wouldn't hear you, but you can't hear us. Okay. Why don't I just do that? And then why can't I hear you guys? And then we could try to figure this out before the next person. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Can tell her that. Yeah,
tell her I'm just gonna do, I'll do the form and then I gotta get another You can hear me? Yep, yes.
Ellen, you can hear me? Yes I can. Yes he can. Just can't hear anyone.
I'll tell her Brian you're going to file the form and if there's a real big problem for some reason we're meeting again on the twentieth and hopefully we'll have this all worked out by then. All right sounds good. Okay. Thank you. Have a good week. You too. Bye. Okay, well at least we got that done.
I'm trying to, says that maybe my software is the camera's being affected by antivirus software. So, I've got to figure that out.
All right, well we got ten, we got thirteen minutes, twelve minutes. All right, I'm gonna try to do it while we're talking here.
All right, so Amanda, I don't know if I have her. Amanda Gibson.
I can't imagine what's going on here. All right. You know what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna shut off my computer, reboot it and come back into the meeting. Is that all right with you guys? Okay, go ahead. All right.
Unmute. Press escape, double click, exit. I'm gonna get out and get back in.
Okay? Okay. Okay. Oh, no. The cat wants to come in.
Okay. Can anyone help us here? Can you hear me? Can anybody hear me? You can. Brian, can you hear me? I can't hear you, so just thumbs up. Okay. And we are missing, for heaven's sakes, we're missing Alan now, Oops. Oh, this is crazy. We're missing Alan? Can you hear me now, Linda? Okay, Brian, you can hear me? We don't have Alan. Alan, you're not there? Allen is rebooting. Okay. Alright. Now Alan's back. I'm back, but my video was
I don't know why. Zoom won't connect. I tried Skype and it works fine. And I go to Zoom and it won't connect. I don't know. That's strange.
Yep. So, but you know, I'm on and I can hear and see everything. Yeah, long as you can hear. Okay, so Brian, can you hear us? Brian, unmute yourself. There's a mute button.
Yeah, I see it. Can you unmute yourself? And Linda, you look like you're muted too. Okay. What is that?
Okay. I had to come in on the phone because my unmute would not work.
There's gotta be something wrong with the platform because too many people are having problems. I know.
Can you guys hear me now? Yep. You can hear me? Okay. Right. Can
you hear me now? We're hearing you on the phone because the lower left of your video screen shows you're muted.
Yeah, I just did that on purpose. I had both of them open and I just did it to see where where you're hearing me from. It was the phone or the computer. So I guess the phone, you can hear me fine. Right. K. We have somebody video on the computer and audio on the phone. Brian, you're here. I got it. Brian, you're on the phone?
I'm on the phone and video on the iPad. Okay.
That must be who's on the Okay. Did you hear me when I was talking about the personal property declaration? No. No. We didn't hear any of that. Well, let me go through it again. I mean, I have the form here. And when you have a business, you need to declare the things that you use in your business under personal property declaration. And if you know what to do or how to do it, go in and talk to Roberta. She'll help you fill it out. If you don't put it in there, she has to make assumptions and she puts a value on it. That's you end up and plus you pay a penalty. Do you hear that, Brian? Do it. Yes, I do. Okay. Yep.
So now and and it looks like you've been in business since 2007? Because she has all these years here, and you did it looks like you filed. Way back when. Yeah.
In on in 2016, you weren't filing so that there's a code 25, which is a penalty. So you've been paying a penalty every year for not filing, and you really don't wanna do that. That'll stop. K. Can you still hear me? Yes. I can. Yes. We can.
Now you guys, my board members Mhmm. According to this plan, she's got you down for furniture and fixtures, mechanics tools, equipment equipment, supplies, you pay a 25% penalty. So no. Number 25 is the penalty. So so you don't you don't wanna do that anymore. You wanna make sure you file. Now what is it? What equipment do you use?
I use Do you have a computers computers. You have two computers. You have two computers. Okay. Both both are six years old. Okay. Two printers. Two printers.
One is six years old, and one is three years old.
One is new? One is three years old. Oh, six years and three years. Okay. And
you use a phone? 2com I use two computer desks and two chairs, of course. Two desks? Those are Start video. Those are those are eight years old each. Okay. And it still is not in place.
And then your Inspector. The equipment that you use to do your buildings with another video camera in settings. I don't build anything. Says golden hammer builders is your your business? What? My business is American Dream Unlimited.
It's an LLC. Alright. I'm looking at the wrong Ryan. Ryan Raffini. Yes. Okay. I was looking at Brian Rogers. Okay. American dream. It
just goes along with what's been happening all the I am doing the same thing, Georgia. Georgia. I didn't realize, but Brian Maudsley is going to file the form file the form file the And since taxes last, I you can I can stay in laws? Alright.
So let's go back. You stop you stop filing in 2016. Yes.
Because that's when she started when started adding a panel. Estimate. Yep. Okay.
So your computers computers computers, she's got 3,457, If I'm reading this right. What okay. What value would you put on your computers?
Their age and their original purchase price purchase the price. Computers and printers aren't worth more than $2,000 at this point. Okay.
And see, there is the form where you can put down you can list everything you have, what the age of it is, and what the original price was, and then, you know, you can work out. So you you say your computers and printers are, like, $2,000. Yes. Yeah. And you have desks? Two desks, two chairs? Two chairs? Correct. Can you put a value on those? Those were 150 new, and they're eight years old.
So what would you for two desks and two chairs? Say $505,105 100. At full value. Yeah.
Okay. Let's see. Desks and chairs, furniture furniture is number 16. Okay. She valued him at valued she valued at $3.47. We're talking value, not assessment. Okay? Okay. So we'll say That's that's probably fair with the age.
Now the so the computer and printer, she's got $34.57 with a value. So you're saying 2,000. Yeah. There yeah. There's no. Okay.
Various supplies that you use use, what kind of supplies?
Well, I use some paper and ink and my printers. I use packing tape packing tape. What is it? Vacuum vacuum
Packing tape. Packing tape. Oh, packing tape. Okay. Cardboard boxes boxes.
Okay. So supplies supplies would be expense expense supplies 23. She's got $666.
Yeah. There's a couple $100 worth of supplies here at the same time.
Okay. And what else do we have here? Supplies. Now then then there's a category that's, all other goods. All other goods. Let me see. 24. All other goods. What do you use in your business?
I'm not you know? My business is sales of medical equipment equipment. Okay. And I drop ship. Most of my orders go through the manufacturers, and some orders go directly from here. I have the items shipped to me, and I package them and ship them up. You don't have inventory?
There isn't a lot of you know, it's a as needed business as they need it I get it and deliver it. So the all others under here is 12,100.
That must be what the number was that caught my eye. Let's see here. Why why would Roberta have $12,000?
Is she basing them on basing them on? Well, I don't know. Don't know. She makes assumptions on what the business does. I have no idea.
Brian, you're saying you don't have $12,000 worth of anything. Well,
do, but I I my business is twofold. I sell I sell medical equipment, which mostly ships from the manufacturers, but sometimes I bring inventory here and ship it from here. I also have part of the same businesses servicing some of the metal equipment that I sell. So I do have some spare parts here, but most of my spare parts are actually inventoried with subcontractors that actually go out and do the service for me. So their inventory is at their locations, but it's mine.
But I know Roberta, she would ask that you show proof that. In other words, she's assuming that your location is the control point, and she's hitting you for that. Once before, I've seen her say say, if someone else is holding it, show us that. We're getting an echo from you, but, Alice.
Yeah. It's really hard to play hard play hard to play hard hard. I think we turn the volume down on the iPad. The phone looks good. Yeah. Turn the volume down on your iPad. Is that
I turned my iPad volume down more than halfway halfway. Every all of us are echoing through your phone.
That's probably what it is. It's going through all the devices. Okay. Yeah.
Back when you were filing filing filing, had a value of $31.90 the last time you filed. And then in 2016, it went up to $11.09 $49.49 9 when you stopped filing stopped filing. Of actual inventory.
That that because you had a penalty of $23.90. So that's what drove her. We can't do anything about the penalty, but if we lower the value I under I under I understand that. Yeah. If we lower the values, the computer will automatically automatically lower
the lower the penalty. Yeah. It's a percentage. I I understand. Okay. And if there's someone at the town hall that can help me fill this out, be sure I'll be there to get help. Well, you you call up the town office, and you push number 5,
and her name is Roberta Roberta. Dougherty. And make an appointment. You'll have to go in, wear a mask, sign in, take your temperature. But she'll be very happy to help you. Sure. And and then as, you know, each year progresses, you can use that form to, you know, do the values. And the form actually does have depreciated value in each one. So it depreciates it too. And that's certainly some of the things that threw me off. Yeah. That'll help you. That'll help you. So for the time being time being
You know, currently, I probably have in in actual value like, retail value parts, maybe $8,000 worth of parts here. But, unfortunately, lot of them have obsoleted, so they really don't have any value because the equipment is no longer out there in the field for the parts I have. Mhmm.
Well, board members, we need to decide what we wanna do here.
Well, what I'm hearing from them Brian, correct me if I'm wrong. You're saying you would have approximately 8,000 in inventory?
And and that might be high, but, yeah, I think if I added every nut and bolt.
Alright. So to that, add your printer, your computer, a table, and a chair. What would that give you for a number?
Well, he said the computers were 2,000. He would value them at?
Right. That was what is listed on the form 2,000. Oh, that's what's listed on oh, okay. On the appeal, he says 2,000.
And then the desks and chairs, she has them valued at $3.47, which doesn't seem excessive. No. So you're talking about, $10,247. Thereabouts. Yeah. Thereabouts. Yeah.
So, Linda, how about we make, in Georgia, $10,247 value value?
That's fine with me. You wanna make a motion? I'll make a motion for 10,247. Linda seconds it. All in favor?
Aye. Aye. Okay. So, Alan? Wait a minute. I'm writing a minute. I'm in motion. Motion. Linda second. Second. And it passed. And it passed. 10,247. Now what you will see is an assessment of 70% of it, and that's what you pay their taxes on. And it will Okay. And it will figure out the new penalty because you didn't file. But by all means, it's to your advantage to go in and half or help you. And once you, you know, you know how to do it, then it's easy to do it every year. Sure. Okay? Yeah. Because we wanna be fair. Fair. Okay. This is Brian Ruffini. Yes. We got the right Brian this morning. Yeah. Alright. That's very good. So we've settled that one. I will, write you a letter letter stating that we have changed it, the value to $10,247.07, whereas her value was well, that was an assessment. So 70% was 14,500. So it is lower. Okay? Okay? Very good. Very good. Alright. And you'll be getting a letter from me stating that fact, and I let them know what we did too. And please, next year, remember to go file. Okay? You you can count on it. Thank you all. Don't wanna have you coming every year. Thank you for putting up with us, Brian. As much as we like you.
All right. Thank you very much. Yeah.
You all have a good day. All right. Bye, Brian. Bye, Brian. Bye, bye. Bye, bye.
You're gonna you guys will you guys, you people will shred the tax return that he sent, right? Oh, he was the one with the tax return? He's the one with the tax. Right, okay.
Yeah. And you have something else you're looking at, Georgette, correct?
Well, I went down to the town office and she printed out for me the personal property record. I got that for each person.
Okay. That's why I'm thinking, why do you have all this information that I Well,
if we were in person, we would all, we could all look at I would be making copies and send them to you. But for me to scan every one of these and send them all to you, you saw the notes I made, was trying to send you the spreadsheet. All right, so this one's done.
So now I had an IT guy come in while you guys were working on stuff. And apparently my Skype meeting may have overwritten Zoom. So the camera is going to Skype and for that reason, I've gotta reassign it, I can't do it during our meeting. Okay.
So I brought up a Skype meeting and the camera came right on and, you know, but because I'm using Zoom, it won't pick it up. I gotta do that after I should be able to correct it, but I just can't do it now.
Okay. Well, we don't have anybody else till 10:30, right? Well, yeah. Trying to where's my uh-oh,
here we go. Got Dennis at ten but he postponed to the twentieth. Brian Modley should have been here at nine. No he was. We had him on first and we told him to go file. He said he was going to go file the form because he couldn't, we had the problem
where we couldn't hear each other. You were trying to talk to him and read him the property act but he couldn't hear Oh,
okay. That was Brian Maudsley. That's right. Yes. We did have both Brian's here. Okay. So, Brian Modsley. Yeah, we don't have anybody till 10:30. Brian Modsley was going to go file
Okay. He was going to go get Roberta's help and file.
I guess I couldn't hear him because I couldn't hear And
I think I told him if there was a problem, we were also meeting on the twentieth so he could come back. So would it be appropriate to write him a letter saying it's our understanding that he's going to go talk to Roberta and file the form and or something like that? Would that be appropriate?
I'll have to talk to Roberta and see if that's okay. I couldn't hear anything, so I didn't know what was going on. Yeah, there wasn't much. We were just,
he got tired of waiting, I think. So I just said, do you wanna just go file the form?
Okay, wait a minute. Let me make a note of that.
All right, I'm gonna try to go into my settings and reset. Yeah, go ahead and then come back on. Yeah, and I'll be coming back up. All right, bye. Stop my video. Now I see Amanda's picture.
That's me. When you see Amanda, it's just because Oh, I now turned my video I get it. Okay, because I see you and I see her. Okay. She must be the face of the Andover Town Hall because I'm using the Andover Town Hall address and login. That's what she told me to do. But then I'm also using my phone. So that's why you see me and the Town Hall. I'm on it twice. I'm just making notes for the minute.
Okay, that's fine. I just turned my video off because I was going to go get a cup of coffee and come back and all that. So that's why you see Amanda now because I turned my video off. All right. Of course. Hello. Hi there. I fixed it. Very good. Yay, we can see you now.
I know, I know. I still can't, you're still on the phone? I'm on both. Oh, okay.
I haven't, I decided not to play around with it. So, I'm here too. Okay. I'm here too. Oh, there she is. Hello.
Alright. I've been here. I just figured I'd keep the audio and video off while we were waiting. So I'm here just sitting at the computer doing other stuff. How many more we have this morning?
Just two, right? Just two. We have Ken Sklodowski and Vince Ramaldi. Ramaldi. No, Ken Sklodowski. We have to make decisions on twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, and twenty twenty.
Twenty twenty, throw twenty twenty out. I don't think wanna hear that. I know.
I was wondering why you sent us all those years. I didn't realize that we had to do all those years. Well, I just found that out this week. This is all new to me because I have not dealt with all this kind of thing ever in any of the years that I've been on this board. So I should have known better. Okay.
Well wait till next year. Is it next year going to be Yeah we're going to have a lot of real estate.
I remember some years back, my first time on the board, we had a reval and we had, I think it was 48 appeals. Yeah. We had to go. Thank god that we had Julia Haverhill as the chairman because she knows a lot about real estate and stuff.
So let me ask you a question. Sure. When do you have to recluse yourself? In other words, if you know someone personally as a friend, do you recuse yourself from that?
I would recuse myself if if they wanted me to. Like when Dennis comes on. Right. He used to be on the board of finance when I was chairman. And I will ask him if he wants me to recuse myself. Okay. Okay.
Okay. So I mean, it's we're not friends or anything, but he was on the board. Right. You could infer you could infer a connection. Right.
Right. Okay. So just ask the ask the participant then how they feel. Exactly.
It's up to them. If they feel comfortable with me being on it, I had somebody come to me that had sued me, and he came for an appeal for real estate. And I said to him, do you want me to recuse myself? He said, no. So he owns the little rental property across the street. And he sued us to stop us from doing the audition when I wanted to bring my 92 year old mother to come live with us or 91, whatever she was. And he filed, and he did it pro se. So it cost him nothing, but it cost us a lot, you know. Well, I know that feeling. Yeah. And then we lost. So, you know, but I asked him because, I mean, I'm not vindictive, but if he wanted me to recuse myself, I would have. Right.
I mean, I'd want to go up and slap him, but I wouldn't touch anything as far as legal, you know. So this, we're gonna have to go through and look at all the stuff from Kenton. I don't know. Did he give you, I don't remember if I'm trying to think if you had copies of everything.
Is I don't. I don't have any but is Ken Slodosky up next? Yes, he is. Yeah.
He's up. So for all the years that you sent, '17, '18, '19, and '20, we have to do each one of them? Each one of them, yeah. In the '20, he didn't file an appeal for the '20, but
Roberta said we really should take that into consideration because if his taxes went down, he wouldn't get a notice. It's only when they go up, I guess. So she said, you should ask them if they wanna also appeal '20 even though they haven't he hasn't got one in there for '20. He's got one in here for 2019, 2018, and 2017. Yeah, you must have gotten these because I think
I got them, if I got them by an email, but I didn't print anything. Oh, okay. Alright. I ran out of paper. Okay.
I went down to the town office and got some paper and envelopes because I used all my own. To go and do all this. But he does. He has one. He doesn't have one for the twentieth, so we will include that if he wants us to. I luckily can you know I'm close enough to go down to the town office and and get information and try to understand how to do this. So the vehicle is a 2003 Ford Explorer?
Yes. Roberta was able to get me the VIN number and all that because she had a motor vehicle record from the last time that it was actually registered. So I'm trying to see where the date is here and so that I was able to actually get a better you know idea of what it would have been worth otherwise in the NADA books because that's what they go by. I don't know why she uses clean retail but for for unregistered, but that's her prerogative. It's not, you know, for a regular vehicle, if they don't come down and and register it, I mean, down and and pay their taxes. She can look up what its value is but you know, like when people come to us because they think it's too high even though it's registered. They somehow always use the clean retail and I I just don't know why they would do the same for an unregistered vehicle.
Yeah. And I got to wonder, I tell you, went to, you know, I drive down Route 6, I turn my head and I see numerous unregistered vehicles at one house. Yeah. And I often wonder, are those accounted for or not? You would to get the address and go look and that's how it works, right? Yeah,
if they had it registered at one time in the town and then it doesn't show up on the tax rolls or whatever, she knows that they've unregistered it. So in my case with the 1947 Jeep that my husband used to race, we had a neighbor who got mad at me because I wouldn't gang up on the one neighbor in between us. She was one of those that liked to gang up on people. And I said, no, I'm not doing it. And so she reported to the town office that we had or the assessor's office that we had an unregistered vehicle in the garage. Well, I didn't know how to file a personal property. This was years ago, And I knew the gal and the assistant assessor at the time, and she called me up. Says, you have a 1940s do you have an old jeep in your garage? I said, yeah. She said, it's not registered. I said, no, it doesn't run. It's not registered. Nothing. It hasn't been because I broke it. He wanted me to race at one time and I broke it. That's another story. And so she said, well, you're supposed to come down and file personal property. I said, really? She said, yeah. So I went down and I you know, got the paperwork and
I mean, he paid $300
for it, and yet the value of it can't be below 500 because that's what this town is set at. And, you know, I guess one of the things I don't understand, and I gotta ask because I don't know is if it had no engine, it's still $500 If it has no axles, it's still $500 I would assume so. I mean, I've had Yeah, little someone told me if you have the parts of a vehicle, it's considered a vehicle as long as the frame is intact. Oh, I don't know about that.
I can't, you know. So, I mean, if your husband were to take both axles off and the engine out and the frame is there, they still want $500 for it. That's crazy. I
don't know, I've never asked that part. I've often asked how come you don't tax my picnic table? You know, I mean, it's personal property. I thought, holy smoke, are they gonna come in and start doing that with the furniture?
Well, what I was told when I asked that question is as long as your belongings are under, personal belongings are under 40,000. If you have like a high value jewelry collection worth 200,000, Yeah. You're supposed to declare that because it's over 40. Okay. I didn't notice Yeah.
So it really and it's incumbent on you because they're not gonna search your house. They're basically, it's an honor roll system. They call your name and they say, well, what do you have? And Georgette says, well, I don't have anything over 40,000.
And that's that's it. Well, that's good to know. Yeah. I don't. Me neither.
I I I have a Aunt Jemima flower bag. That's gonna be worth a lot of money. Yeah.
Yeah. It could be. I know when we took that class. We found out that the assessor is the one that sets the minimum, which is 500. Some years ago, I didn't know that, some years ago, I think it's, I'm trying to think, I think it's a Scott's tree farm. They have an old farm truck that they only use on the property. And we lowered the value to something like 300. Well, we can't do that. 500 is the value and then you take the 70% of that.
I would think reasonably 200 would be an appropriate value for a frame with no engine. Know what I mean? Yeah. Someone could just be an antique buff and is stripping something off of it, and they're gonna that 500 just seems way excessive. Yeah. Does. It's up to the assessor. Yeah, well, I won't comment.
Okay. By not commenting, you're commenting. Okay, so we're gonna have to, he should be coming on pretty soon. What I'm told is, I guess he mentioned to Roberta that he uses this for plowing, so it does run. Okay. It has a value of some kind. He wanted us to lower it to the twenty year. Well, it's not twenty years old yet. It won't be till 2023. But, you know, according to his paperwork the assessor valued it at $3,760 and there's a lot of paperwork here. And $37.60 is the 2019 value?
Is the what? That all? According to the twenty nineteen one he said that the assessor valued it at $37.60.
So he's saying it's above clean retail. The assessor is saying it's over because $36.25 is clean retail in 2019. Right. So he's saying it's even better than clean retail.
I don't know where he came up with that figure. That's the only thing I was trying to find. Now on the grand list in 2017 it was $30.10 in 2018 it was 2,750 in 2019 it was 2,540 and in 2020 it was 2,310. I'm trying to find where he came up with the 3,760.
Yeah because in 2018 he valued it at less than clean retail and then in '19 he went above clean retail. Yeah. Let me see here.
You know, so I kinda like use a descriptor. I mean, if he thinks it's above clean retail, that's, you know, and that's what he's calling it. Well, why wasn't it clean above clean retail in 2018?
Oh, you mean oh, Roberta. Yeah. Okay. When you guys say, I thought you meant Sklodowski, but you mean Yeah.
Assessor. Yeah. She does all this work, though. She does So the assessor's saying it's above clean retail, but a year ago it wasn't. So has he done work to it?
I don't know. That but I'm I'm still trying to figure out where he got the where Kenneth got the $37.60. 0. That's what he put on the thing, but It's on the 2018 tax bill as the net assessment, 37.60. In '2 No, thousand no, no. Okay. In 2018 clean retail is 39.25. $20.18, right. All right, there it is.
You know what I mean? It's like, it's under, it's over, it's under, it's over.
Would think You know what she does? She adds, I think she adds like 10% to it every year if he doesn't file. I think she mentioned that. I'm not positive but I think she mentioned that. So he has never filed for it anyway is what you're saying? I'm trying to think. Let me see. It was registered at one time. At least I thought it was.
So it's not registered now? He just uses it to plow?
Yep. Okay. Here we are. I have a motor vehicle record from 2003, and this is personal property. Okay. It was it was valued the net value was $38.70 in 2003 according to the motor vehicle record now. 3870 in 2003? Isn't it a 2003 vehicle?
No. No. I'm sorry. A 2003 vehicle. Okay. It was registered.
I was gonna say, should have been brand new in 2003. So much paper here. I'm so confused.
3870 was the net assessment what year is this? I don't see what year this was. That's the last time it was registered was 2003 according to this paperwork. Assessment year was 2013. Okay. And it was valued at 3,870 percent was ten years old at that time. And it was registered so.
So, let me see, I'm gonna write this down. So you're saying this 2003 in 2013 was 3,000 how much? Net assessment was 3,870. $3,890.13. Right. And ten
years later or eight Well, that's the assessed Wait a minute. Value $38.70 net value. It's funny because it's got value $38.70, net value $38.70 net assessment $38.70
that doesn't make sense. That does not make sense because it's supposed to be what seventy percent seventy of percent, yeah. Right. All right, so let's jump to 2019 and what's the value 39?
Let me see. 2,019. She wrote well, she didn't put a number on that. 2,019. Let's see what I have for everything is coded. It's driving me crazy. 02/2019, he says that she had a value of $37.60.
Three thousand seven and sixty six years later. No, on the net assessment for 2019, it says 3,440, right? Say that again.
The tax bill. Yep. The I'm looking at the tax bill that's with the appeal. It says net assessment $34.40 for the 2019 tax bill.
2,019. Hold on. I've got $31.80. Wait a minute. 10/01/2019. I have $31.80.
Did This you is, it says personal property tax bill 2019. 3,440 net assessment. It's with something that he gave us. Okay. And you're saying Roberta said it's not that? Well, that's the tax bill. Yeah. Which is pretty evident.
So that's what they say. Oh, that's okay. Tax bill. Yeah. 2000. Oh, I see it. Okay. It's on the plan list as of 2018. So that's 3440. Right. Yep. That's the last one. 2019. Okay. And then we got a tax for 2018 is $37.60. So 2000 let me go back here. And that's the assessment, not the value. So that's 70%.
Alright. So let me ask you this to clarify. So you're saying 2019, the number at 70% was what? $34.40. $36.40. $34.40. $34.40 represents 70% in 2019. That's what an assessment is, is 70%.
Yeah. I I understand that, but at some point, I thought so you're talking another three so you're talking was, like, $3,800.
Yeah. Probably. The now the tax bill for 2018 shows a net assessment of $37.60. And tell my manned over tax information assessment for 2019? No. This is a different statement here. Twenty twenty one.
So the big questions I have is how much work was done to the vehicle to make it go up so much? Was it painted? Was a new engine put in? I mean I don't know. Wait. He says it's I understand it's unregistered.
Yeah. He said it's damaged, rusted, infested with mice. We have somebody else on the line now. Is this Kenneth Slidoski? Yes. It's muted.
Unmute yourself, Kenneth. Hello? Can you hear us? Can you hear me? Yeah. I hear you now. Terms of meeting Okay. I was trying to call in.
Okay. We were going over your tax bill here. Okay.
Now I am I wasn't sure if you're talking about me yet. Sorry about that. No, we are. Your ears should be ringing. We're talking. Here we go. Let me get this. Let's see now.
Can you explain to us what your appeal is exactly? Yeah, so what happened was I was unaware that I needed to declare a vehicle that was no longer registered. It was discovered by the town totally fine by mistake. And what happened was when it was assessed, it was assessed at a grossly over evaluated assessment. The vehicle is not roadworthy. It is rusted, is infested with rodents. I have pictures I can show you. I'd like to see them. Yeah, I can share that. You use it for plowing, right? I use it only to plow the property. Your own yard. Yeah, it's 18 years old. It's within two years of being the twenty year grandfather piece where it's a lower evaluation. And so what they did is they gave the NADA value. I went and I checked the Kelley Blue Book value and the Kelley Blue Book value. I mean, the lowest valuation on there is fair. Really, this is a poor value vehicle. They had it valued somewhere between $322 and $977 under Kelley Blue Book. And let me just minimize this and see if I can get share.
Yeah, I went into the NADA books too for 2017 through 2020.
All right, let me see how can I share that?
Have you painted it? Have you put a new engine I've in
done nothing to it. The only thing I did was fix the brake line. The rear doors are rusted shut, you can't open them. The hood doesn't close because the latch is rusted. It's effectively, it's only uses to plow my driveway. I have a four eighty foot driveway. It's impossible to shovel it. For me to get in and out, I have to plow it.
And you're saying that if you tried to register, it wouldn't pass inspection? There's no way this thing would pass.
Okay, you've put in for three years, for '17, '18 and '19.
Yeah, and actually You might want us to do 20 as well? Yes, I do. Just didn't I didn't know if I could because it hasn't been, I haven't been billed yet.
Well, wouldn't get a notice if it went down. You'd only get a notice if it went up. So she asked me to the assistant assessor said, while you're at it, ask him if he wants to do 20 as well. So I'm assuming we can.
Oh great, yes, I would like to do that. Okay. So there's an assumption going on. We've been discussing this assumption. When the assistant assessor Roberta looked at this, she's assigning clean retail, which basically is a registerable vehicle. So it's unregistered, but for her purposes, she's saying you could register it clean retail. So you're saying it's not registerable. So my comment to the board was, I'd like to see what it looked like, because we had a similar vehicle come before us. Remember Carol's truck? Yep. It came before us and she brought it into us and we looked at it and the rails were all rusted through. Oh, have. Yeah.
The fenders were gone. I mean, we ended up by putting a value because I had a strong engine, good tires, etcetera. But she should be getting stopped every day and getting a ticket for driving this thing, you know, and you and you can't even register yours.
Yeah. I it would be impossible. I have, pictures, but the sharing option on this is is turned off. Yep. Okay. Somebody somebody turned on the sharing option. I can share pictures. Let me see if I can figure that out. So when I click the share screen says host disabled participant screen sharing I can email them to you. Does that change anything? Let me see. Yes, okay. There's my desktop. Oh yeah.
Okay, can you see the rusted out pieces of this vehicle? All right, that's one. It hasn't come up yet. All right, let me
We have a screen, like a computer screen, but no picture. It's showing a Windows format You're in not able to see this picture? No.
Hold on. Let me go back to It's showing on my add to My
apologies, I. Am not sure how it's Let me see if I'm afraid I'm going to close out the whole session. Let me see what happens. Okay, let me do that. Let me try going back into So you can't see these pictures that I have up at the moment. No. So
we have the windows blue screen and then to the right there's a bar and it says Creative Park Premium.
Let me see. Did you see that picture I just loaded onto the desktop? No. No. All
right, let me go back into share and see if I can share something else here. Says you are viewing Brandi's screen. Yeah. My wife. We are viewing Brandi's screen. Okay. But there's no pictures on that screen.
Yeah. I'm seeing them. So you are screen sharing. New share. Let me try this here. Let's try, ah here we go. Can you see that? Oh okay.
Not very big but yes. Yeah so can you see if I blow it up? Can you see that? Oh yeah. Okay, so this is the condition of the vehicle. That's the backside of it. Let me see if I can escape out of that. What's that one? This is the front showing that you cannot close the hood. This
is underneath the hood and you can see the damage from the rodents. They literally are chewing the stuff out of the inside of it. And I've done everything I can to try and keep. You see this here, this is a shutoff switch. Have to shut. There's a short in the line. I have to turn off the terminal or it kills my battery in a matter of a day. Here's some rust damage viewing so you can get an idea of the rust damage. Oh yeah. That's excessive. They wouldn't pass that onto the road.
No, wouldn't. And then here is information showing it is a 2003 Explorer. And then here's a screenshot of the blue book that I was referencing here showing that they showed trade in value around $3.22 to $9.77. And you can't go any lower than fair on this. There's also exhaust problems with it that it's just a little bit loud when I plow, but I can't get it on the road to get it over to get it repaired, the exhaust piece, but it's totally not roadworthy and it's a glorified snow shovel is what it is. What would you pay for it if you were buying it? If I were to buy this, honestly, I wish you could experience sitting in it because I can't plow without rolling down the windows. It smells of mouse urine. I'm sorry to describe that to you. I probably wouldn't buy this, but I own it and I wouldn't get rid of it. The only value it has to me is when I sit in it just to plow my driveway. No, it's like a snowblower. It's like a $500 snowblower. If that. Yeah, maybe a couple $100, but that's about it. Because really there's more liability than value to it because I'm constantly doing repair work on the battery. You could see I had to
make customizations
on the battery and we had to replace the brake line. But you've got a plow on it and that's got to be worth 300
Yeah, I would say 3 to $400 is a fair value. Yeah,
so I mean, Georgia and Linda, I'm thinking in my mind, the lowest we can go is 500. Right.
I would be good with 500 to be honest. I agree. Okay, now is that that's $20.20, correct?
Let's do each Yeah, that would be as is now. Okay. I can't go back to '19 or 18, but as is now, that's a $500 vehicle. So
you wanna make a motion to value it at 500? I make a motion that this vehicle as presented to us today with these pictures is a $500 vehicle including plow. I will agree, I'll second that. Okay, so Allen motion and Linda second.
And that's the lowest we can go Ken is 500. It is. I understand that and that's acceptable. Know, understand
my responsibility as a citizen of the town of Andover. Need to pay my taxes. I've already paid 200.68 on the taxes of this vehicle to bring them current. Still outstanding is 2 and $50.26 worth of taxes. So you add those together, that's $450 worth of property taxes on a vehicle that we just agreed is worth 500 I
know, but there's gotta be a penalty in there because you hadn't paid. There is a penalty. If you don't file, you're gonna pay 25%. Yeah, 25% is still
much lower than the 400. Yeah, and there's nothing we can do about penalties.
No, I understand that. So my question is the valuation, this damage and this rust happened over time, can we take that valuation back to the retro taxes that I was assessed because I had not known about this that I needed to. And I'm okay paying the 25 percent over, but the valuation for the 'seventeen, 'eighteen, and 'nineteen taxes as well, this vehicle was not worth $3,700 in 2017.
Well, we need to we need to vote on the motion for the 2020 value of 500 before we go any further. Okay. Alright. Let's do that. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Okay, so that passed. Thank you. Now, you're looking to get some refund from past taxes, is that it? I'm not asking for that.
I'm just asking for a fair valuation for the years of 'seventeen, 'eighteen and 'nineteen as well. I literally just got this bill in December. I paid it at the end of January, what needed to be paid. I wasn't unable to appeal before the taxes were due, so I had to pay them. Like I said, I paid $20.19, I paid $31 worth of I paid what was due, dollars 31 for 'nineteen, $77.34 for '18, and 92.06 for 2017. I'm not asking for any refunds. I'm just asking for a failed fair valuation for those three years as well.
All right, so my take on it guys would be that I don't see the preceding years being higher. Don't, because if I could, I would go lower now. And having said that, preceding years, I would be fine with going back to '17, '18 and '19 saying the same thing that we would have minimized it to a $500 vehicle back then anyway. If you want to make that motion we can I make a motion that we accept 1718 and '19 as the vehicle with plow being worth the minimum $500 value? A second.
Okay, all in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. It's passed so we're going to value those past years
as the lowest we can go by law is $500 Right. We're saying that from '17, '18, '19 and '20. You have less than a 500, but by law we can only say 500.
Well, it's by town. I am okay with that. There are towns that set it lower, but our town has it at 500.
Which is the tax assessor sets the lowest value. Right. Okay.
And I know what you're going through. I have a '47 Jeep that doesn't run, wasn't registered and all that stuff in the garage, and I didn't know. Yeah. She pays $500. And it's what we paid 300 for it, but it's it's it's valued at 500, and I go and I file every year, so I don't get a penalty.
Yeah. Okay? And my understanding from the conversation I had with the department was that at age 20 years, that tax drops to something like $20 a year after that. So I don't know. The age of the vehicle does. That's what I was told by the person I spoke to. So I'm only two years away from that.
Yeah, you better you better you reaffirm that because I don't know anything about that. They have never told us that. Oh, well that was what
my understanding was of the conversation. So we talked with Roberta probably, right? You talked with Roberta or did you talk to John?
I did not speak with John, so it was a woman. I did not record her name. Her name is Roberta. She's the assistant assessor. It.
Yeah, check that out to be sure because nobody's ever told us that and our Jeep is more than 20 years old.
Yeah so I will check into that and I'll check back with Roberto on that. Okay. All right.
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate everybody's assistance today. No problem. Don't pay any more penalties.
Oh yeah, I won't. Okay. Now I know I'm gonna declare it.
Keep a copy every year and just copy it, you know? Yeah. Okay.
All right. Take care. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend. Yep. Bye. You too. How do I get out of here? Good question. Okay. So
stop share. Here we go. And there we next one is Grimaldi. So much fun. Yeah.
11:00. Is it eleven yet? Not quite. 10:46. Okay. Well, that's good. We got these out of the way. I can't even sleep at night without dreaming about this stuff, it drives me crazy. Oh, you poor girl. Honest to God, it's awful.
Yeah, if you're dreaming about it, yeah, I agree. Whatever's on my mind I dream about,
and this is on my mind way more than I want it to be. I have copies of all these forms. I know you can't see them, but there's a detailed itemized list that they can put description of the item, the date it was acquired, how much it cost, which helps them when they sit down and try to determine how to fill out the form. And Roberta says she's very happy to help people with it if they just come in. And sometimes the only reason that she knows they have a business is because they file with the Secretary of the State for their LLC, but they don't declare having a business in town and all that. Their equipment is all personal property. They probably don't know.
Where do you get this form anyway? Do you get it from Roberta? Tried looking I at did get it from Roberta. Yeah. Okay. It's So not on the website because I find it the actually is on the website. I just couldn't find it.
Because Roberta gave me a list of the forms that are on the website. If I can just find that piece of paper. Dawn?
I don't need it. I was just curious, you know, as to what the form looked like and I figured I'd look for it but I couldn't find it.
She did give me a list of all the forms that are on the BAA. You have to go to the BAA portion of the website. So now what do we have coming up?
We have Vincent Lamaldi. He's appealing the cost of his property, the value of his property, but on
oh this is Dennis, we gotta put that aside. Yeah that's what I had up next, but Dennis is He on the
owns the big house on, is it Lakeside Drive, around the curve or Lake Road? Can't, wait a minute, it's Lake Road, 353 Lake Road, and if you're heading towards Merritt Valley it would be on the right, and you go up and there's a big house there, and he has evidently more land besides that, another building lot. And I went down and got his, what they call card, know, the picture and all the information on the house that he has there and the lot, plus the building lot. And he's got 17 acres Oh, besides the regular building 17 acres, one building lot? He's got the building lot plus an extra 17 acres. And it's not in forestry?
No. No, he's not claiming that. He's just saying they're overvaluing the property. Property. And I don't, I mean, our building lot is 0.92 acres and the value of that land is 82,500. That's automatic everywhere. Know, on everyone that you have 0.92 for a building lot, it's $82.05 for the value of the land. That's reasonable. And he's got another 17 acres besides that, and it's valued at 23.9. That's reasonable.
I just don't see why he thinks it should be less.
Right. And I would say, I mean, I'd buy 17 acres for that 23.
Yeah. And the value of the, and he's already got plans for a building on it. I wish I could show you these, but I can't. He's already got, you know, like plans for building on it with all the particulars.
My nephew just paid $6 for two acres. Yeah. And you can't build on it. It didn't qualify because of wetland. Okay.
This is up high, so I doubt there's any wetlands on there. Right. It's across from the lake. I was wondering why they had two mailboxes, because there's only one house, but now I see why it's because he has a whole plans for putting a house on there. So I don't I personally think that it's fair.
It sounds fair unless he presents something that's outside the boundary. Right. If
he wants to put it in some kind of special, like you say, wooded land or forest. Forestly. Yeah, but looking it's a building lot because he's got plans already to build a house there. Right. Right. So I don't see that it's excessive. But, again, we need to wait for him to come and make his fleet. Estimated estimate of value of the property being appealed 75,000. The assessed value $74.05.
It's $74.05. Right. The appraised value is $1.00 $6.04. So I I, you know, I think it's fair, but that's me. He needs to show me where it's not. You guys get your shots yet?
We were able to get both of ours because we're well, I'm almost 80, but he is 82.
So Did you have any reaction to the second one? Sore arm. I had a sore arm for The the first
second one, the arm wasn't as sore for as long. I mean, the first one, was sore the next day all day, but for the second one, it was minimal.
Good. That's what I'm open for. Piece of cake. Yeah.
I'm waiting to hear back from UConn. They might be able to give me one next Thursday. Oh, that'll be nice. Yeah. We'll see. Because I just became eligible this week. Oh, good. Oh, you youngsters. It's hard to get an appointment anywhere, but UConn has given them to employees.
Yeah. I have a granddaughter who was a extremely preemie. She went down to one pound fourteen ounces some years ago. But anyway, she works in a daycare, and she's in her mid-20s. And every time she gets a flu shot, which she had to get because she works in a daycare, she gets the flu. So she's very scared of getting this vaccine she's afraid it will. I mean she seems healthy otherwise but she just maybe reacts differently than somebody. Hopefully now my daughter was telling me that I guess way back in November both of her daughters ended up getting sick and they think they might have had the virus so I told them to go there there's a place called Collaborative Lab and I think they have a place in Manchester too they have them several places but they do the testing of the blood to see if you have the antibodies because I needed to get a test for a procedure but it's the nose swab thing. And so I made an appointment with them and then I called up to make sure they do it. She said, no, we only do the blood tests. I told my doctor to look it up.
You donate blood, they test it because I donated blood three times in the past year and they've tested every time for antibodies. I haven't had them yet.
Can't donate blood anymore because I have an autoimmune disease and have to go get an infusion every eight weeks. I got up to 11 and a half gallons and then I couldn't donate anymore. I used to work in the Gold Building and the Red Cross Center was right down the street. They would call me up every eight weeks. Come on, go get me one. They do the same to me. Yeah. So I really regret that I can't give any more, but I can. Now we're gonna have to hear Jason Salisbury on the twentieth. Okay.
He's the one that didn't use the form and I was told by mistake that John said we don't have to hear it, but that's not what he he was talking about another case And it had nothing to do with this one. I guess Caroline knows him and she said he's going to sue if you don't. So I said, Okay, fine. The way the law is, it's put all this information in the form, not necessarily on the form.
So So as long as he addressed every point. Right.
And he did to a well, yeah, somewhat. He did. But he didn't give me his phone number, didn't give me email address, nothing. But Carol knows him, so she got in touch with him and got permission to give me his email address. But he he's also he's got two. He's got one is his business and one is a non registered vehicle, but he didn't give me any information on the vehicle. I don't know what make, what model, what year, what condition, nothing.
So I'm going email him. Yeah, because you're going to need that to get Right. The una
I mean, I have the thing from the personal property record from the assessor's office. And he's evidently been in business since he has an LLC and he's been in business since 2015 but has never filed personal property. So, oh wait a minute, maybe it's 2,009. Yeah, oh no, that's the unregistered vehicle. Okay, but I, it doesn't say what it is. No, well anyway, I'm going to email him and say I need that information or we can't review your vehicle. Other than that, and then we'll hear Dennis' on the same day. He's also got a Jeep, right?
Dennis has a 2,000 and '1 Jeep, I think, right? And didn't he didn't he jump it?
He jumped it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I don't see that it's, you know, it's probably gonna be the same type of deal. He he gave it to the junkyard and got a 125 for it so I guess he had called Roberta to ask her how to report this or whatever and she said well now that you told me I got to go back all the years that you didn't file So there we are. Yep.
I guess it's better to ask forgiveness and permission. Don't know. That's what they say. Yeah. I had a vice president at Travelers named Jimmy Sugihara that took me to lunch after I passed a bunch of tests, and he's the one that told me that better to ask for permission for forgiveness than permission I never forgot it yep all right do we have we have Mr. Grimaldi on can you hear us Mr. Grimaldi Yes, we can. Okay. There you are. And your appeal that says that the estimate estimated value of the property being appealed is $7,075,000? Yes.
You think that's what it's worth or is that what you're saying? You think it's worth 75 or it's not? That's what I'm saying. Yes.
Well, you have a you have a a building lot. Correct? Yes. I do.
And the other house and lot that you have, point nine two acres is the building lot and that's valued at $82.05 for the land and then another 4,400 for the extra three acres. And this piece of property has 0.92 acres valued at $82.05, the same thing. And
then you have 17 acres in addition for $23.09. So the total you're thinking the total value of your property should be 75,000
as opposed to the one? No. What I'm talking about is the actual building lot, the point nine two acres. You guys are assessing that at 82.5. And that's standard.
Yeah, and it's wrong. It should be wrong. There's several lots in the area that are selling for under $80,000 some quite a bit under $80,000 Again, you're valuing this building lot at $82,500 yet you can't buy an entire lot, approved building lot, you know, for under 80,000. There's several of them available, you know, I think that it's very excessive and it's supposed to be the value of the property is what you're supposed to be basing basing it on.
Generally, if you look at all the different pieces of property in town, you'll find point nine two acres of a building lot are the same value. They value the same if it's a building lot.
And how can they be selling for less than that?
Well, whatever somebody sells something for doesn't necessarily mean that's what the town values it at. You know what I mean? I could have Oh, yeah. I know. Could have something, a building lot that the town pays at $82.05, but I want to get rid of it, so I only ask for 75.
Yes. No. If they can't sell it for 75, then it's not worth 75. Well And that's my whole point. Okay? I have several here in the area. One of them right down the road here that, you know and that's the entire lot, including not just the building, the point nine two acre building portion of it. I'm talking about the entire lot that they can't sell for 75,000. Yet, you're valuing it at $82.05. That's my whole point. Okay, that value this, you know, assessment that you come up with is supposed to be based on the value of the property, the estimated worth of the property. And it's very high. You guys are estimating it very high. Georgette, can I ask a question? Whole Sure.
So the minimum value that you're espousing is actually set by John. Correct?
Yes. As far as I know. I mean, it's always been that way. I you know, for that particular size approved law. It's 82.5.
And the last time that the assigned value was revisited, do you know that? No.
I mean, back in its heyday, the gentleman would be correct. The value of the land was probably higher when property values were going higher. But I just wondering if John has visited condition and values now in 2020 at all. I don't know.
Have you talked to the assessor at all, Vincent? No, I have not. Because all I can say is, you know, I don't know if he sets the value or I'm not sure how that's done, but
But what we can give you is some history. We just did motor vehicles before you. And he sets minimum values on any motor vehicle, registered, unregistered, the least amount of money he places is 500. We can't go below 500 because that's the value he set. And it appears as though that's what's happening with the building lot. He has set a minimum value on a building lot and we can't go below that if that's what his minimum was set at.
John has a history of overvaluing, okay? He's assessed my car the same way and I had a problem with that. He assessed the house. Mean, now the same way I had a problem with that, took the town to court. He ended up lowering his assessment. So you're telling me that John is the guy setting it. Well, John is setting it too high. That's my point. We can't You can't set a piece of property and say it's worth 82, assess it at 82,500 and you can't even sell it for 80,000. It doesn't make sense. I do understand. Not on the entire lot, not just the point to at 92 acres. That's point I'm trying to make.
So Georgette. Yes. Can we defer this gentleman's answer to the twentieth and between now and then ask the assessor if we're allowed to go lower than his assigned value?
I know we're not. You're sure of that? We're not, yeah. In dealing with land in the prior times that I've been on this board, and especially like with Julia Haverhill, who's very accomplished when it comes to real estate and land. She used to own all that land up on Long Hill that all got developed. We were not allowed to alter that. But the rest of it is 23.9 for 17 acres. I mean, I suppose we could alter that if if we wanted to, but I don't see that that's overvalued.
Quite frankly, that's a whole other issue. I believe it is overvalued. You guys are charging $1,400 per acre of undeveloped, unapproved land, just raw land, basically. I find that excessively high too. The only problem with that is I have no way to come up with any kind of value for that because there's, you you charge the same amount for every piece of unvacant land and it's based per acre. Well, total assessment for the whole thing is 74.5. Right.
And that's what you would be taxed on. I don't see that we have much leeway here. I can go and ask him again, but I think he sets a value for the 0.92 amount of a building lot, just like he sets the value of a motor vehicle registered or unregistered, running or not, at 5,000. Mean, 100. I don't have the authority.
We don't have the authority. We don't have the authority to go below his number, I know.
I mean, when you build a house on it and you get, you have plans to build already in here, And when that is done and you feel that that whole thing is high, we could revisit that. Oh, we will. As far as, you know.
Yeah. I understand. You're gonna appraise the dwelling as a at a certain rate. You're sending the excess again, which is the raw land at a certain rate. And and, you know, the residential building a lot, the point nine take acre lot. But right now, what I'm what I'm appealing is that 0.92 acres at 82.5. I believe that's excessive. I see. Five different lots, building lots for sale here. One of them is 52,000, it's got four acres right here in Andover. Approved building lot for 52,000. How can you assess that value at 82,500? I don't understand that.
Well, that's more of the question for, that's John doing the setting. We're allowed to review it to the point that our number reaches his lowest approved value. That's the problem. All
right, well, do we go from here then? Well, you'd have to go talk to John and he's there on Monday nights and he's there on Thursday mornings, but you have to make an appointment, you have to wear a mask, take your temperature, I've sign
already appealed his assessment, Okay. I don't feel talking to him is gonna help me in any way. He's gonna tell me the same thing that you're telling me. That's what I assess it at. It's 82.5 for everybody. I mean, how does that help me talking to John? I've talked to the assistant Roberta. Roberta, yes. She's the one that sent me the cards, you know, the Yeah. Cards and all that.
And did she give any indication that we would be able to lower that 82.5?
No, she didn't say anything about the board, the assessment of the appeals. She knew I was gonna go before you, but she said the same thing that everybody's the same. It's 82.5 for this point nine two acres. Right. Know, and that's what I'm appealing. That's what I disagree with. It makes no sense to me at all. If I can't sell a lot for that, how can you appraise it for that, you know, anywhere in town?
I wish we could help you, but there's not much we can do. What's the point of this appeal then? I don't understand it. Well, you're asking us to I mean, it's like somebody coming to us and saying, well, my car is only worth $100 Why are you valuing at $500 Because that's the limits that we can appeal wherever we have
leeway, but we don't have any here. Yeah, the legislature gave the assessor the power to set minimum values, and we are not allowed to go below his minimum value. Alright. Well, how do I challenge that then? New Britain superior court. So I take the town to court again?
I to clarify. I mean I gotta tell you, I'll just historically, I've done it. Mean, I gotta do what you feel you gotta do. Okay. And we're telling you that they've given us no authority to go below his assigned value. And I do understand that times change and values because of times change. He, however, has not reflected the changes and we're at a stalemate there.
They used to be different. I know they were different some years back, it was a different value, But I don't know at what point and how. Now, if you want to come back on the twentieth, I can talk to him about Going lower. Before he comes to that, but I don't think we can lower it. Sure. I'll come back on the twentieth. We can speak again.
All right. That would be that's acceptable. Linda, what are you thinking?
I'm fine with that. Sorry. My birds were chirping, so I muted myself. Yes, that's fine. We can find out in the meantime if we're even allowed to go below that. Okay.
All right, we'll do that. Mr. Grimaldi, we appreciate it, I understand it. So we'll research it and on the twentieth, come back to us and we'll be better informed.
Okay, just a couple of things I wanna clarify. So the assessed value is 70% the appraised value, displacement worth of the land of the property, correct? Right. Okay. And you said two different things. You told me first that John sets the minimum, but then you talked about the state setting the minimum. So which is it? No, the state gives him the authority to set the minimum. Okay, so then this is all on John. Pretty much. Okay, okay.
And it's a matter of saying to him, hey listen, the times are different. People are not paying that kind of money for a building lot anymore, and you should be able to reflect that in your low value. And that's basically what we're gonna say to him ourselves between now and the twentieth. How he responds, he's known to dig his feet in and just say, well, that's value. Yes he is.
I mean, we'll do what we can at our end and then whatever information he gives us that we have to act on, we have no choice, we'll reflect it in your answer and then you have to choose what you have to choose.
Okay. Alright. I appreciate that. Yep. Now I'm this is being recorded. I I mean, you have you're It's fully recorded. Meeting. Okay. Yep. It's been recorded. Right. Minutes and all that. Okay. Okay. Great. Well, it's actually been recorded live. Oh, okay. I wish you would have mentioned that when we started, but that's okay. That's fine with me. And on the twentieth, come back to us. Yes. I will. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it. You're welcome.
Okay. I will question John on this and get back to you guys.
All right. And then we'll call the meeting to close. Make a motion we adjourn. I emotion that we adjourn. I will second that motion. Oh, thank you, Linda. All in favor. Now
where is my minute? Alright, so we'll hear be hearing from you in between now and the twentieth, I'm guessing. Yep and to get your volume or your vocals back. Yeah.
So you won't be on double screens. Yes, you don't like the double screen?
All right, bye guys. All right, take care, Linda. Take care, Georgia. Bye bye.