okay good afternoon welcome to board of assessors meeting uh May 1st 2024 4:30 meeting here at 382 North Main Street uh in accordance with mgl chapter 38 section 20 uh we are being taped and videotaped by elcat and we tape our own meetings in the office in the meeting today is um board member Marilyn gini and our new assessor Hayden Smith and chairman Martin grudin director Diane bishop and uh associate Carrie uh we'll start with the meeting with from Marilyn gini review of the minutes from March 27th Mr chairman I have reviewed the minutes from our meeting of March 27th I think and find them to be in order and move that they be accepted okay I don't believe there's any discussion uh uh make a motion to accept the minutes you get a second second all those in favor I okay moving on to administrative items no warrants no warrants okay we got reports um motor vehicle excise abatement report from March 23 and 24 the amount of 24,42 in a pen motor vehicle excise abatement report for April of 23 and 24 6351 76 you are going to notice that there's some red ink on here that Unice is having a small calculating issue so we had to update small Corrections yeah it has to do with um interest okay all right no problem um real fiscal 24 real estate exemption for March 19324 61 cents in a portion of CPA Exempted and these are the last of the exemptions that were processed for okay for veteran blind veterans and everything else yeah yes uh then we have fiscal 24 real estate Bait Report from March 9697 and the portion of CPA and this was stateements yes the ones that we processed last month okay last month okay March March March and that's it for signatures for now trying to write small and um now we look at sales Hayden it's called the la3 sales report for the month of March I don't know if you have that on your phone we have a list and uh um these are all the sales for March this might be easier for him I have it on my computer I'm sorry there you go no problem thank you and just up top for Hayden Nal is non arms length so there'll be a code that is used to not qualify as a sale for our end of the year market reports for for Value could be a family transfer uh you'll see the very low amounts or just something extraordinary and they get coed out and then the ones that are blank are like the real sales that happened and uh we kind of take a look at them and if you feel one that you know about it doesn't make sense welcome to talk about it and at the end is the uh assessment sales ratio which is what we really look at every month and uh anything um meaning what they sell in relationship to our assessment and we watch that all year long uh they' everything's been below one so we have an odd one one that's 1.13 it's not coded out but uh it has an unusual buyer so it's something that we may look at that did you look at that one in MLS um yes it is a dated house um the person who purchased it is going to flip the house but it was on MLS I do see it yeah thank you and I have updated based on what I saw in the MLS yeah um so there wasn't a lot that I had to really change except that it was dated okay all right that's all right and we have uh you know we have more in the in the 90% than we normally have this markets been 70s and 80s um it's unusual but we'll see what happens um any questions on the sales Marilyn I had one quick one you answered for me so now I'm set okay Hayden any questions no sir all right moving on to the uh building permit report pass that I'll pass that down there your bill reports on everything insulation solar anything that people apply to so there was one new then we talk about yeah new sales new new building new build I mean uh which happens to be a condo yeah where's that one uh kind of like 8 10 down and a very uh uh a new commercial commercial building too is the commercial on Benton I believe if it is it's going to be tax exempt oh it is yeah it's going to be tax exempt it's going to be from what I'm hearing um uh c h Center for human development CHD and it's going to be a um facility that is going to be shortterm or longterm as from what I've read um it's not going to be a group home but it is going to be a place for care for someone when they need medical care wow how how big is a building I mean that's I don't it's a lot of money for not a group home or whatever I honestly didn't look at the plans to see what the square footage was I remember hearing about it at the planning board it's uh next door to um young young WF that between WF and the oh wow Junior Achievement I don't there's that they P pay tax in the land they will so once they own it they can apply for an abatement if they're going to build within two years it would even the land would be exempt okay all right insulation hot tub so they demoed this whole house um I'm sure which one was that uh the demolition for the fire damage home yes it has been raised it's totally gone and even the fireplace is now gone I went by it one day and I saw the stone uh field stone fireplace still standing and then when I went by another day it was totally gone wow I don't know what the plans are the gentleman um is an older gentleman and he is he lives in Florida at maybe Snowbird Florida I'm not quite sure but he has been hard to reach I'm not sure you know how he wasn't in the house no he he was not even in the state at the time yeah good so I've spoke with him on a couple occasions we did just process the supplemental abatement but I have not heard back from him so I don't know what his future plan is but once it's demoed it's probably a good indication yeah so the road is finally going in there I saw on Facebook yes yeah a lot of wet wet there though is it heard water goes over the water goes over the road in areas e yeah and then you saw the other subdivision is moving right along on Parker Street oh my God that I have a story down one day and it's just I have a story on that one for G okay just cleared and that's it for uh building report any questions Hayden Maryland y okay moving on to director's update uh we have go off the that okay I have to just make this bigger then if you have questions later Hayden that's fine than you oh um I'm currently working on updating the personal property accounts for fy2 uh The Next Step will be going to any of our new businesses to visit for um property personal property asset inspection uh that most likely will happen over the summer after we get our building permits done uh as required by the Department of Revenue we do have to do the 50/50 Blended utility values which will be completed by our consultant um Central values for the telephone and the pipelines are due usually around June 15th and those are generated by the commissioner revenues so right now it's a moving Target until we get all of the information pulled together but it will all be pulled together before it comes time for us to do an inum adjustment building permits we're getting ready to start that uh generally we try to do it in the month of June since our deadline to pick up new growth and new construction is June 30th this year we have approximately 550 open building permits prior to starting our FY 25 interim adjustment we have to visit all the properties with open permits and then we have to do all the data entry to update those properties um before we can determine what our new growth will be for fiscal 25 now it says I me in 550 open building permits and we just went over building permits you don't look at everything on those like solar solar or insulation do we we do not look at insulation we do not look at tents we do not look at help me out what others don't we look at we do look at Sol hot tubs no no hot tubs made me you made me fondly think of Bill John know Hots um how was for you Bill so solar we do look at although it is generally a 20year exempt um on any residential home but we have to do our due diligence to make sure that it is there because in 20 years if we have to start assessing it we'll have it I I don't want to go out and 20 years and try to figure out who put solar y when they did it oh here's a couple of those windows so yes Windows signs yep roofs uh yep we have to do all of that so if somebody is just doing a new roof and their house is kind of like already in good condition there won't be much of a value change on a home that's getting a roof Improvement but if a house has been really um neglected hasn't had the the finances to put into um updating it and then has siding Windows roof done that has a a definite impact on value so and we do send our data collector out to pick up all of this and um we do get new pictures because that is very helpful when you go from a a tired house to a much updated house um Ken and I will do a lot of um permits that are like one window two windows because it's really not worth paying our data collector to go out to these properties one window and two windows well some of our permits are two windows or a slide and glass door you know and a slid and glass door is maintenance it's you had to replace a door with the door see I think a ro surpris I'm surprised they permits for one window or two windows it is it is maintenance a roof but when the whole property goes down so if you the whole property is was in good condition and then it went to average condition and then it went to Fair conditioning the value was dropping and dropping and then they um are able to do siding Windows roof and now it's not in fair condition now it's moving back up so the value is now increasing so um but we do have 550 permits that are ready to be reviewed we do use near map for a lot of our solar because um by using near map we can look from one year to the next and we can see if solar was put on and again it's not something that we're taxing so as long as we know it's there we can add it to the card um if somebody has just say a shed a garage and solar will send the data collector out to pick all of it up at the same time okay do you do anything with Lykan on the roof I know the insurance companies now are sending drones of L kind M yeah because they're canceling homeowners insurance wow Yep they're sending drums rather than going out no I have not gone that yet she don't want to syndr I would that have any would that have any impact on value if you look at house and it's well full of no I would have to say it would be falling in the same aspect as if people have mold or you know you want to remediate anything so most of the time it's a temporary situation if some does not remediate these issues then it can turn into a more catastrophic situation so you want to talk more about roofs later I know a heck of a lot about roofs I probably paid to replace like 10,000 roofs in my life wow just because that's what I do for work well I used to do so yeah liken I mean it's just maintenance and probably it's not a not a big issue unless it's there for a long time it'll eat a hole in the roof eventually yeah okay next up sorry oh U fy2 income and expense forms uh they were sent out March 15th and they are due back May 15th and this is for commercial industrial property owners who uh we require each year to provide to us the income and expense of their real estate not their business portion of it but just their real estate and this information assist our office when we're doing um our updates interim updates or re-evaluation uh it there is a penalty fee for non-filing so we really encourage our commercial and Industrial owners to um fill out the form to the best of their ability and to try to get it in no later than May 15th if somebody does need an extension please feel free to reach out to us now we we uh raised our minut um two years ago on that so that's personal property this is income oh income exp okay uh the forms of list would be that we did raise our uh personal property um exemption if they're below that minimum do they need to still fill out this form yes they do unfortunately I'll have to let Martin abas them know oh okay please do so um cyclical inspections as you know that uh the Department of Revenue requires us to review every home in town uh commercial industrial buildings inclus included in all of this um all properties we try to average about 500 a year uh we were out our contractor was out in the field and they reviewed a section of town over 500 homes were visited along with photos being taken um both kianne and Melissa has completed the data input and the update of the pictures and so we're good for this year and I have to commend car and she took the town's big map and then she really focused on one small area and made sure that we did all of those homes because having sending your data collector out and you're going from one side of town to the other it's it was much more effective and time effective to one area so sicks um RFP for our assessing Services uh we currently are advertising uh we're seeking requests for proposal for assessing Services these include our reevaluations interum adjustments cyclical inspections uh personal property inspections and I missed one oh building permits and with that said uh our current contractor has a three-year um contract it ends June 30th um we did put on our town website and in the reminder uh on April 11th that our request for proposal and tomorrow is the deadline at 2 p.m. uh all bids are in sealed envelopes and they go directly to the town manager's office and tomorrow at 2 uh Kenne and I and I believe Tom Christensen the town manager will be there to open how many do we get they went to the town manager's office I honestly don't know come on you know I just came back I just I'm I'm dwindling my pile okay uh so that's what I have all right great thanks for that Diane moving on to uh fiscal 24 statutory exemption reimbursement report that would be the mdm's right yes so as we talked that I don't have in front of me so no because it's just a signature as we talked um last meeting we had to have this in by April 30th and you gave us your permission to enter it in so we could meet the deadline knowing we're meeting on May 1st so this would be anything that you have um Exempted these are the totals we have our MDM here's three lines I'm sorry I didn't put a sign here no so that is the total for all veterans um seniors blind Sur spouses y okay you want all three on one on that one line yeah well we we made a little break in the line oh I see it y see if we were actually having you sign in on the Gateway system you'd each have your own line so we just kind of make our lines and we have more vehicle excise and vot of batement authorization no we've got three forms to that oh you do okay yeah sorry um so for veterans exemptions we get an additional amount of money um and we have to have verification these are 22ds this is the amount that was re yes yeah um 22 e which is 100% so the 22 D's is a um spouse of a veteran who died due to a service connected illness or disability and in fiscal 18 they updated the law for them to have a full tax exemption and sadly to say we're getting more and more so um the amount has been going up but I'm very grateful that they are able to receive the full exemption and they don't ask us to identify the people they now just ask us to identify the count and the clause and the amount and then this one he here here again they changed these forms this is to get reimbursed for motor vehicle excise for veteran and there were 14 who were who qualified for that back to 2022 was that was just the normal the way the funds were done okay this is for the normal F this is for motor vehicle excise so if they have a um veteran DB plate veterans disability plate or if they have been uh the letter from the medical Advisory Board through the R&D they are entitled to a full exemption on one vehicle that they own and I think this is what you were going to start okay to talk about uh moving on to more vehicle excise boat abatement authorization so what this is is in order for us to process as taxpayers are coming into the office and to expedite the process for them where you're giving us your authorization to process them anything that is a cut and dry motor vehicle abatement sold my car uh here's the bill of sale here's my uh change and registration cut and dry we can process it and and move it along if not they'd have to wait until our next meeting for the board to sign off on each get a lot of boats um we don't get a lot of boats um we only have to assess boats that are over 16 ft and being that we really other than the pond across the street that I don't think we have any boats floating on um you're going to find boats more in a community where they can actually more that boat yeah we do have some people who will drive back and forth you know hook their boat up but uh fiscal 25 Farmland valuation advisory commission recommended values so did was that on our that comes from the state was that on yes yeah okay if it is on this then yeah yeah I can pass my stuff on and if I need any help with my cheat notes Hayden you'll have to help me out so each year the Farmland valuation commission uh reviews values and then they recommend where the value should be per acre for agricultural or forestry Christmas tree that type of of land and they give us um three different soil ratings and naturally you know like small medium large so we have below average average or above average and historically the uh Board of assessors in East Long Meadow has um gone with the average soil rating and so I'm bringing before you a uh hopefully a vote this evening that you will determine um which rating you would like um Hayden does have my cheat notes and he can probably see on the ups and downs yep y um and I can't see that far you me to go through them any major changes from last year yeah he can so for crop land harvested you're up 100 for the second cop and harvested Dairy beef and hay you're up 22 third one Orchard Vineyards and blueberries you're up 100 Christmas trees down 20 non productive land up six cropland pastured up 22 productive Woodland down 16 and productive Woodland land use categories down 24 I wonder how they do all that um it's a good question good question wonder if they ever take samples or anything um I think on the cover letter it it explained that they do review um the municipalities did you say it was based on soil well it's based on the production of crop so if you have really bad soil you most likely won't have a uh you won't yield a leverage production um the more above average average or above average you have a much better so you don't have to actually go out and test the so I wouldn't but I have known to go walk the farmers fields and verify that the crops are that they're telling us that they're growing are there the last time we did it was in 2017 and um probably will'll be due again with near map it's awesome because we can actually see some of the right the crops in the field at the right times so I do know from a brewer Treehouse Brewer they bought land in Connecticut and there's two areas of the top soil and all of Connecticut and they bought one of them they had the eyes rating to try and build their hops and barley and they probably paid a more of a they pay more because it was an existing farm that was growing other crops quite well and so the rating mattered H there's your lesson for the day thank you okay M Mr chairman any questions on soil ratings Marilyn not really all right then uh so is this just what we're doing or oh we got a vote on this oh sorry about that uh I make a motion based on his notes to accept the average rating for chapter 6161 a soil ratings do I get a second second all those in favor I I thank you so I'm able to globally update all of them in the computer and then when we recalculate it really has such a minimal amount of value difference because when you add a $100 to $200 Y and you multiply that times our tax rate yep it's really small yep okay um I think that's it for Open Session I think you're right uh I make a motion to go into executive session and we'll only be returning to open session recorder our votes we discussing motor vehicle exite boat and abatements statutary exemption applications real estate abatements and an ATB update take a roll call vote Marilyn gini yes Hayden Smith yes Martin grudin yes