Tax Rate Recap

Post date: Sep 17, 2019 2:35:26 PM

DOR approved tax rate on 9/11 as expected at $17.60.

After our last meeting, we learned that DOR changed one part of their procedure which prompted a request for assistance from the Principal Assessor after the meeting. As in previous years, the Board authorized the Assessor to submit its approval electronically on their behalf through the DLS Gateway (the electronic portal for financial reporting.)

That LA-5 document is attached below. This past year, the DOR decided to have each Board member individually register for a profile, username and password to conduct this one activity of checking a box for approval. There is no other function for the Board to do in the portal as a logged in user during the year (the responsibilities and authority roles are Assessor, Tax Collector and Accountant as well as Town Clerk. In fact, I have no real authority role in the system - if I was not slowly chipping away at basic assessor training, I would not likely use my login either.

We viewed this as an inconvenience with little benefit since it had a once a year and limited use. Additionally, the system is not the most user friendly so developing the directions to route users to the right place to check a box seemed a problem. To that end, we made the offer to manage all of the user login information to be able to go back to the original authorization to approve on the Board's behalf with as little hassle as possible. To that end, for anyone that provided that information, the only place that information is now retained is with the Assessor and the Town Clerk. If anyone would like their user information reset, we can provide the information to call (note this gives an indication of the technological minimalism of the system) to do so. Knowing this change, and assuming it does not change again as every town in the state deals with this hassle this year, we can maintain the same approach next year and/or set-up having everyone login and approve online at the conclusion of next year's tax classification hearing.

Final recap attached below as well as LA-5 that was authorized on the Board's behalf as requested.