Resident disagrees with property market adjustments

SUMNER — Resident Ted Dawicki told selectmen he believes market adjustments for subdivision lots "should all be set at 20 percent – period," during their meeting Tuesday.

"There should be one set rule," he said.

"Why are they all getting different market adjustments?" he asked. "Some are getting zero [percent]. One is getting 50 percent, another is getting 80 percent."

"It doesn't look good," he said.

In an April 9 e-mail between Administrative Assistant Cynthia Norton and Tax Assessor Michael O'Donnell, O'Donnell said that "market adjustments for subdivision lots are used to acknowledge a variety of factors."

"Subdivisions that are in a stage of partial completion nearly always receive an adjustment," he writes. In addition, he said market adjustments are also used to acknowledge the time it takes to sell lots.

In the e-mail he stated that "it is rare that all the lots in a subdivision will sell on the day it is approved, so that means there is marketing time consideration" – which he refers to as the "developer's discount."

Developer's discounts tend to be small adjustments of 10-20 percent, which are removed at the time of sale (in a down market). In a strong market, he said, all developer's discounts are removed after the sale of the first parcel.

In an April 23 e-mail to the town, O'Donnell suggested that the adjustments be removed or at least reduced – from 50 percent to 25 percent  – on one specific property, R19-006, owned by Angelo Camano.

Norton said that some market adjustments are higher than others because "O'Donnell looks at the properties as a whole. He's seeing that they are all worth about the same amount of money," she told selectmen Tuesday, "and in order to make that work, you add the adjustment." 

O'Donnell also said that subdivision lots are "judgement calls" and it is up to the town to change assessments.

At Tuesday's meeting, the board of selectmen voted to reduce the market adjustment on the Camano property by 25 percent, as recommended by O'Donnell.

This means that Camano is assessed at 75 percent full market value, said Norton.

The change was based on an inconsistency initially discovered by Dawicki. On April 9, O'Donnell agreed with Dawicki that the Camano market adjustment was "suspect."

"I think 25 percent is reasonable and seems to be in line with other adjustments," said Norton.

Dawicki said he disagreed with this adjustment. "The Camano property should be down to 20 percent," he said. "That's what most of the properties were at – not 50."

"It doesn't pass the smell test," said Dawicki.

"It depends on who's smelling," Chairwoman Mary Ann Haxton responded. 

"Well, if it was me, as far as I'm concerned, it looks like they are either doing favors or somebody's paying. I'm sorry, but that's what it appears to me," countered Dawicki.

Norton said that she would send Camano a letter notifying him of the reduced market adjustment.