Assessors

Post date: Jul 13, 2017 3:14:39 PM

Bill Barkin and I continue to be involved in a western Massachusetts effort to build a consortium to build a new electric transmission and distribution assessing model. This approach will be most successful and most cost effective if we work in a collaborative of a few dozen towns and we are starting to pin down interest. For simple reference, the generic estimate based on experience in other individual locations, the value of utility property (as provided by the utility and state) is likely 25 to 40% below taxable value. For reference, our value for FY18 is $8,357,625 (yielding approx. $150,000 in taxes); so, this approach at current tax rate would potentially mean between $37,500 and $60,000 in additional revenue. We estimate that our annual cost for the initial revaluation of this would be between around $5,000 per year for 5 years (the group is still working on a methodology to allocate cost share across differently situated communities.