 We can get started and John and I talked about this, we were going to start with the cases where we have inspection reports because those tend to go more quickly and then those of you who are here for inspection reports get to go home. So starting out with Steve and Wendy Dale, we have a member of the committee here, no we don't. Let's skip over you for the most. I'm sorry about that. Sharon and Joseph Blatchman. Alright, why don't you step on up and someone from the committee want to tell us what their report is? Looks like I didn't copy all the pages, so hopefully someone from the committee will. And you've sent these to me. Do we have copies of the report here? This is for the second page, you may have to bring it up on your computer. The copies of the inspection reports that I'm going to allow. This one, and I don't know. Here we go, I have it. Hey Sal. Yeah, no, it's okay. I've got it right here too. I think I have it in an event. Okay. So the first one is Sharon and Joseph Blatchford and the procedures will have a brief report from the committee, which doesn't mean reading the whole report, just giving us an overview or a summary of what's in the report. And then if the taxpayer has any comments to make, we'll take limited comments and then we'll, we'll debate and vote. So are you up Sal? Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry? I'll manage. I had one, okay, I just didn't open it up. I didn't know what you're doing. So the main argument in this case was not essentially with the condition of the building or that sort of thing. And in our inspection, it was mainly with the comparison to the values on nearby, nearby side streets. The property compares favorably with very similar ranch style houses along Terrace Street. It has one more bedroom and I believe one more bathroom than the others. Some of the evidence presented by the, well there was a couple of statements made about traffic noise, but it was all really subjective. There's no way to evaluate it, and so we weren't really able to take that into consideration. And the side streets are only 50, 70 yards away. I mean, I imagine the noise level is similar, but again, it's all subjective. Comparing you to similar properties in the area, it was actually at the lower end of the square foot pricing and we felt that it was fairly obsessed. Okay, thanks. Mr. Blaschford, do you have any comments? I do. I think that the process is very flawed. I don't consider any of those houses that were cherry pick up to be really that close to what my house is. And with me just going through the list, I looked at properties that were assessed roughly the same amount, the same dollar amount. Yeah, and others were in more favorable neighborhoods as far as I'm concerned. They were in quieter neighborhoods or whatever, but I just looked at certain places that were roughly the same assessment. And to me, a bunch of them, I would trade with them in a heartbeat. Okay. You know, for an example, I just wrote down a few I could have done. I could have done dozens of them. 21 Territory, 455,000. And it was only up from 328. So the percentage was much less. Larger lot, a couple hundred yards down the road. Much bigger house. I have no idea about the condition, but it's a much bigger house than mine. Nine done Patrick Circle. 532, it's more than mine, but it's a dead end cul-de-sac, 6.3 acres, beautiful house, beautiful lot. And it's not that much more than mine. Supposedly my little .28 acre lot is worth 96,000. Well, how much is 6.3 acres? A one minute drive up the road on a dead end cul-de-sac work. And the house is very nice. And I'd say fairly similar in size. 14 Pearl Street, 413,000 up from 253. Right in the meadow. Speed bumps. Very accessible. I've been in the house. Very nice house. Very accessible to Hubbard Park. Very accessible to the rec field. Very accessible downtown. Flat neighborhood. Speed bumps on the road. Another one there. Nine Pinewood. Very nice house. Bigger lot than mine. Seems much newer, much nicer house. 410,000. 27 Deerfield. Bigger lot. Very nice house. 426,000. All these houses, they're not all ranch style houses, but they're houses that were assessed about the same. And the percentage that their assessments went up were much less than mine. Now, I wasn't happy with my last assessment. I mean, I understood though, because I did way more work. And for me, I just don't understand why mine went up 93.7%. I have not said anything along that I couldn't get that much because houses in this town sold for crazy prices. Tim could tell you all about that. He knows all about that. To me, that just means that maybe a bunch of my neighbors were under assessed. That the percentages should have been closer. But for me to go up $2,500 in my taxes, where other people didn't, when I did way more work between 2000 and 2010, to me, it's just crazy. It just shows me that the process is flawed. Okay. Thank you. And committee members of the board, any discussion before we vote on the report? I'm going to just add that our inspection, we couldn't go to all the places that you mentioned, but we did look at them. Right. And I'm not saying I know the houses on the inside. Mr. Blaster? Yeah, I'm sorry. Let's end the talk. I think we were impressed with the quality of your house. And I personally was concerned about noise, because I think that's... I mean, I appreciate that. That's an interesting factor. And I think Marty can explain what I didn't know at the time, but there are different categories of noise. We have the neighborhoods broken down. And I believe that neighborhood was called a traffic good. Yeah. So traffic is factored into the cost of land. So traffic good means it's a good neighborhood, but traffic affects the value. Correct. So that was taken into account. Yes. Right. But the report said that our house was averaged, quality of the house was averaged. Sir. I'm sorry. We're done taking argument. Oh. Thank you. I thought he was looking for some input. Any discussion among the board? Chair would entertain a motion? Motion to accept the report with the assessment remaining to get 406,800. Is there a second? I'll second that. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. The car vendor. Just handing them up to you. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. I know you called me. We were waiting for somebody to show up. They haven't shown up. Haven't shown up yet. I have a commem terrace, so I'd like to ... I'm happy to talk, even if they're not here. Okay, maybe we'll do. Yeah, we'll definitely get you out of here. If we don't have a member of the committee, one of the other of us will summarize the report. I've written it. OK, Mary, Bob, and Rosie, who wants to tell us the story? You didn't give us a chance to talk this evening. Oh, yeah, but I can leave here a quarter of your show. That would be great. So we did an section of the property. The felon had made a couple of different arguments. And so one was about the property itself. She mentioned that the property was swampy and wasn't sure about its value there. We did find that it was a level lot in front and that while there was a stream in the back that that provided some privacy from the other lots, we didn't see a lot of rationale for reducing the value of the lot. However, when it came to the house itself, we did find that the condition was accurate and the size was accurate. But we did look at the comparables that the felon presented. And we felt that they were very compelling and more compelling than the comparables that the assessor had presented, particularly 25 Hubbard Park Drive, which was a neighboring property, larger and had 1.5 bathrooms instead of 3 quarters of a bathroom. And if you just look at the building value, because the felon slot is quite large, but if you just look at the building value, they were the same condition, that property was assessed $9,100 more than 25 Hubbard Park Drive. And so I'm sorry, I'm looking at the wrong thing. That property was assessed $10,900 more than 25 Hubbard Park Drive. And so in addition, some of the properties that the assessor had presented as equity comps of the per square footed value for this property was higher than the equity comps that the assessor presented. The appellant didn't present a new value that she felt it should be assessed at. So we were left to determine that for ourselves. And so we suggest reducing the overall valuation by $20,000, focusing just on the value of the home itself, which would bring it slightly under 25 Hubbard Park Drive and would bring it per square footage in alignment with the properties presented by the assessor for equity comps. Thanks. Ms. Gartham, do you have any comment on that? Thank you. I'm first on. We've been keeping it to a couple of minutes. I won't go on. I want to thank everyone for being here when I came two months ago. And thank you to Rosie and Mary and Bob for coming up to the house. I did not know I was supposed to say what I thought it should be. I didn't think that was part of it. But if I had, I would have said something. I do want to say, Marty, I found you very difficult to work with because I said a couple different times that I'm available to come down. And I want you to show me these things, but you never did. I presented them all to you online. Did everybody else? You were in my office twice. Yeah, I was. So what would be helpful for the board tonight is whether you have any comments about your agreement or disagreement with the report that we just heard. So you think this $20,000 reduction is a reasonable assessment? I wish I had said something sooner. Or I said what I really thought, $320,000 would be a good one, but I'm happy to get a reduction. Yeah, and to be honest, some people say they think it should be, most people don't. So it's certainly not a requirement. Thanks. OK, the chair would entertain a motion. Motion to accept the committee report. And is there a second? A second. Any discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? OK, thank you. Thank you for coming in. Thanks, everybody. All right, Steve, as promised, I've read this, and I can give a very brief summary of the main points that the committee hit are that the taxpayer has agreed that the market value of the property is probably what the assessor says it is. And in inspecting the subject property and the comparables, they find the property, the cost per square foot and other measures to be of this subject property right around the middle of the subject properties. And so the proposal is to sustain the assessor's judgment. And that's all I've got. You've already received the report, too. And so, Steve, again, if you have any comments, you're welcome to make them. Thank you. So this summary that you just gave is accurate in terms of the basis for our appeal, that the assessment is that a higher percentage of fair market value than comparable properties. So the dilemma with this report and with the process is that our case is that there are many properties in our neighborhood with similarly designed houses. And our appraised value is substantially higher than you would have a $70,000 more on average with all those properties in the area. And the process is set up so that the committee comes and looks at your house, and you're welcome to come. They were welcome to come, and they verified that, in fact, we have a certain amount of space. And it's in a certain kind of condition, which is all fine. But our case is not anything about our house. The case is the comparables. And the process does not apparently allow for site inspection of any comparables. So I'm left with the knowledge that there are a number of properties in our neighborhood that are appraised substantially lower that have a similar configuration or a similar amount of finished space. And I believe if it's based solely on a square footage estimate, then there's some errors there. But you were in no position to judge them. So I'm not sure what more can be said. The fact is, the folks came, they were delightful. They did their job. But I continue to be substantially dissatisfied with the fact that this criterion is not met. Our assessment is at a higher percentage of fair market value than comparable properties. OK. Next. Any entertainer motion? I'll move to accept the committee's infection report and recommendation. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor, cd5i saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? OK. Adopted from the assessment of the committee report. Thank you. I don't have to view your test. Here we go. You'll make your next meeting on time. All right. That is it for reports. Now on to the first property discussed tonight is 10 Hebert Road. Everybody has that in front of them, I hope. Reappraiser company set an assessed value of $276,700. The property owner did attend the informal grievances and know what changes were made. Home is a one-story ranch built in 1982, rated in good condition. Home is one full bath and two bedrooms. Basement is unfinished. They're given the home a C or average quality for construction. Three comparable sales are of similar exterior obsolescence. The main concern with the homeowner at 10 Hebert is the neighboring property. These three comparable sales all fall with similar issues. Sherwood Drive is a cut through down onto Route 2, 302. 220 and 250 Berlin Street are also high-tracked areas. They are selling between $204 a square foot and $434. Subject assessment is $274 per square foot. The assessed value of $276,700 is falling under the sale price of all three of those sales. As you'll see on the second page there, I do mention that the three sales are used because of the negative influences with the high-traffic areas. Equity Comparables, 8 and 12 Hebert Road are direct neighbors to the subject property. They both have similar views of a down-street housing project, which is the chief complaint of the homeowner. Their assessments, as you can see, are $297 and $293. Condition of the first home is a little better. Number 12 Hebert has a finished basement, so that changes the per square foot value on that. And another one, 14 Hebert. That one's at $286 per square foot. So the subject property is under the neighbor at 8 and 12 Hebert. So it appears as though the subject property is fairly assessed at $276,700, taken into account the housing complex across the street. The record card attached will give you a breakdown of the land, the building, condition. And this property was inspected in late 22 by the reappraisal contractor. So we believe all the physical information to be correct. And that's all I have for any questions on that. Any questions for the assistant? Mary. I'm trying to think about how to evaluate not the particulars of the appellant's discussion about the neighborhood issues, but just to understand how from an assessment process, and we'll hear testimony on this, I mean, about that, but from an assessment process, how do you take that into effect as you do traffic or help me think to understand that? By using sales, like those three sales that I have, if I were to do this for a bank, I would use comparable sales that have similar external obsolescence, whether it's a dump across a street or an actual dump or a high traffic area. I would use comparables that are in similar neighborhoods. So these three sales all have an external obsolescence to them that would bring value up or down. In this case, it would bring it down. So it's managed through the sales, not through some observation of what was in fact happening. So you use in the objective nature of the sales to assess them. Thank you. Because that's the definition of market value, what somebody willing to sell, what somebody willing to buy in a certain situation. Any other questions for the assessor before we go to the taxpayer? I just want to clarify what you're saying. You're not comparing this situation to their views on the process for what you're saying. Yes. Yeah, I didn't mean that. What? Yeah. I'll try to catch myself. If there was an action for garbage dump. That's a serious situation because I think we're going to hear some pretty concerning, well, yeah, yeah. So right. So these three these three sales, they all have similar external influences. And the equity comps are direct neighbors. So the subject sits in the middle. On the left and right also look out the same view. There is also, I didn't put this in, but 19 Hebert is also right behind the apartment complex. And that assessment is 263. It's similar. It's pretty close to the subject. Mary Terry. Can you tell us specifically what the conditions, the similar conditions were on the comparable sales? They are under the condition on the far right hand side. No, I mean, I mean, sorry, not condition, but you said that they had similar problems or neighborhoods. So these three sales are all in high traffic neighborhoods, high traffic areas, like sure with cars. Yeah, yeah. So that would influence the neighborhood value. That makes sense. Bob, you look back here about to ask. So the comparable sales are on the same street? The ones you showed us? No. Oh, those are the equity comparisons. The first three of the sales. But the equity comparisons are all on the same. Correct. And the first, so number eight and number 12 are direct neighbors to the subject property. So they have similar views. They have similar views and similar location to them. Okay, would you raise your right hand? Does that only affirm subject of the pains and penalties of perjury testimony about the whole truth and nothing about the truth? I do. Okay, why don't you tell us? Well, when I start, I don't, I guess, I start by saying I'm on a road that has no outlet at present. It's a dead-end road. The comparisons to the other houses are somewhat skewed in that they're major roads, the major connector roads. So I, and I don't have two-car garage. And all the houses that I saw in the latest info I got was like two-car garages. I don't even have a garage. There's my two of them. You know, so anyway, pictures are worth a thousand words. And the apartments across the street, I am directly across from the apartments. This is out my living room window. I have a few of them overflowing dumpster every day. And that dumpster does not get emptied all the time. And if you really want excitement, you can watch the rats go in and out. And, you know, I have complained about the amount of cars going in and out of there. And this isn't on the road. This isn't in and out of the apartments. I counted. One hour, last year, sent it to the police chief. There were over 30 cars in an hour. In an hour, going in and out of those apartments. And sometimes, while there's even three or four of them trying to jockey to get out. And you know what? All those lights shine in my living room window. And I had to spend $600 on Venetian blinds to try to block it out. And they still come through the cracks. Well, see, here's another added bonus. It's my understanding they're building condos at the end of the street. Part of the deal is they're gonna build a sidewalk to on the whole street. That's out my front door. My front door, right there. The other houses they compared my house to already have sidewalks in front of them that are probably 50 feet away from the house. If they stick up sidewalk on my house, I'm gonna walk up. People are gonna, their dogs are gonna be pooping on my lawn. People are gonna be sitting on my front steps. People are gonna be looking in my windows. So there are some issues there too. And the other people that they're comparing me to on either side of me do not have this across the street from them. Yes, the police thing has gotten better. There were, you know, I have a police log here from 2000 to 2022 shows there were 60 something police calls. You know, and it's like, okay, this is right out my living room window. This isn't to the left. This isn't to the right. This is right there. And, you know, if they take away my front yard. Yeah, that's pretty much it. That's us at all, you know. I got nothing. I got nothing, you know. They take away the front yard and they wanna raise my taxes for what supposedly is a community enhancement. Would you tell me how somebody giving directions to their house when they have to say I live across from the overflowing dumpster? Tell me how that raises your property value. I don't know. I'll listen all day. If you can tell me how that increases your property value. And, you know, the blue dogs, the pit bulls and all that, and, you know, all of the above, you know, this I could go on and on because this has been ongoing for the last three years and it's very pretty thin. And, you know, I've asked for help with security cameras because I know there's some pretty shady characters there. One that I know has to be under house arrest because they only pop out to get air every so often. So it's a little unnerving for a woman my age to be living alone wondering if I'm gonna come home from vacation and find somebody living in my house. You know, I'm sorry, but these are real issues. And, you know, when you look in the parking lot and you see four broken out windows and cars, you know, with duct tape on them and plastic bags holding them together, you're like, am I gonna be next? Cause clearly somebody smashed them windows on these cars. So anyway, that's pretty much my life where I live. And I don't think that compares to my neighbor on this side and my neighbor on that side because I get to watch the rats all day from my house, you know, and, you know, take my front yard to wire at it, you know. And if that happens, you know, like I said, I've asked for security, help with security, and it's like the police are like, we don't help people with that. I'm like, okay, I gotta figure that out myself. And of course I gotta pay for that myself. And then if they put the sidewalk in, I'm sure nobody's gonna plant a hedge for me. And even if I have to plant it myself, I'm gonna have to pay somebody to do that. I'm gonna have to pay somebody to maintain it every year. So anyway, that's kind of why I'm here. And I'm just sort of fed up with the whole thing. So to be clear, and I, I... Yeah, I came unprepared and it's like, I think you came prepared. And so I just want to ask you, you're not, you're not disputing the assessor's measurements of the house or anything like that. Your concern really is that the neighbors you have make it almost intolerable. It does not raise my property value to have what I have to look at out my front window every day. And that would, that should be reflected in the assessment. Oh, I think so. And there's also another point that, that, you know, there's also more people living over there than should be living over there. What I think there are, you know, that's my guess because of all the cars that are always lined up the street from my house, which brings to mind what happens to them in the winter. Where are they gonna park? There's already cars parked where it says, don't park here, which means if a fire truck has to get down in there, it can't get down in there when they're already parked in the no parking place. And if I have to get out of my house to go to the hospital or whatever, it's like, I don't want to have to be fighting with four people trying to get out of there too. Oh, and then there's the FedEx trucks and the UPS trucks that park in front of my house and idle while they're delivering to everybody down there and walk on my lawn. They just walk, you know, park on the lawn, leave the truck idling, and there you have it. So I wanted to ask you about another thing you said, which was that it sounded like you were saying that this started just a few years ago that it wasn't this bad before? Is that, am I right in the- It had gotten progressively worse. There was a bad spell at one point in time back in maybe the 90s. And you can ask your police chief because he used to live next door. And there was a lot of drug dealing going on, which was another issue. They believe they have the 12 unit mailbox with the locking keys. Well, let me now amend all those doors that be left open or a lot of those doors would be left open overnight, all at the same time. Why? You know, did they all get to close the doors on the mailbox? You know? So I don't know if that still happens a little bit now, but not as much. But, you know, I didn't follow up the turnip truck. You know, I got a lot of, I believe me. I have a background that would make your hair spin, you know, and I know signals when I see them. And it's scary, it's scary now to live there. Let me see if any of the other members of the board have any questions for you. No. How many units are over there? There are 10 units over there. So, but, and I'll just say I've been there since 1983 and I've seen the ownership of the apartments change. And I've also seen the dumpster. When I first moved there, it was down farther into the apartments and there was a deal where they said, well, we're gonna move it up and we'll always have the door shut on the dumpster. Oh yes, we'll shut the door, we'll make the special beautiful enclosure. I've never seen that door shut on that dumpster. Never, never. Have you talked to anybody down street about relocating? I have talked to people at down street, not lately because nobody does anything. I've talked to them about the dogs. I got attacked by a German shepherd. The way my house is set up, you can't see when I go up the back door, I go to my car and I get these dogs coming at me. Your question was specifically about the dumpster. I've talked to them about the dumpster. Have I given you any? They started emptying it a little more often. And now the people, they put their dirty diapers into the dumpster instead of in front of them. They empty the dumpster more often, but they come a quarter of six in the morning. One time during the day or during the week, and it happens more than once. This isn't just the one time occurrence. They're there, it's five, 36 o'clock in the morning and they've got a garbage truck out there. So, I don't know. Have you had any conversation with the police about parking spaces, no parking? Again, I know from my own history and my own experiences that there will be retaliation if you say anything to anybody about their dogs or their parking. I don't wanna have spray paint all over my house. I don't want my window smashed in with duct tape. My question, did you ask the police to see if they could say, in the front of your house have no parking zones or things? They have no parking zones. In the apartment building parking lot. On your side of the street? No, no. People can park on the street, I get that. They don't park on my side of the street, just the trucks seem to park there for some reason. The big trucks, the FedEx and whatever trucks. The cars seem to park on the other side of the street. But they also park where there's no parking in the apartments, which means there's more cars than there are parking spaces at the apartments. So eventually, I think I'm gonna wake up one morning and find a car in my driveway, because where else are they gonna park when the winter parking beyond comes into effect? Well, they're gonna block me and I'm just, that's just how I'm thinking now because I can see these things that are probably gonna happen, you know? And maybe I'm just so worried for it, but when you got cars lined up there every night, you got cars parked in no parking zone and snows coming. They gotta go somewhere. Okay. Any other questions here? Not for the appellate. Marty, just remind me of where we find the neighborhood condition on the car. That will be on the side of the piece. The very bottom. It'll say mid-good. Oh, the word. So it's like mid-century good. I didn't go down far enough. Yeah, all the way at the very bottom. And so interpret that for what is mid-good? Mid-century good neighborhood. So mid is the construction era of the homes and good is the way for the neighborhood. I do want to say on my house it's something about I had horse, toddler, or something like that. We have you as a gas wall unit, like a little high or something? Yeah, I thought I saw some kind of force. Yeah, I do have a propane here. On a wood scope that I don't use. And just to confirm, Ms. Greco, I think you said that you didn't disagree. So much of what we look at is this thing that we call the card. And I think he has, he's a paper on top of it, but then it looks like this. And then you didn't disagree with the information about your house, that that is correct. The house part is correct. It's correct, yeah. Okay, thank you. Okay, any other questions? All right, we'll appoint a committee of three members. We have some volunteers to do this one. Mary, Kim. Am I free to go? Yes. I don't feel all that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sarah, so do we have your, email address and phone number? Yes, he has it. Okay, great. So the members of the committee will contact you to arrange a time to come over. Sorry I got a little heated about this, but you know, like, we get it. Yeah, I hope so. Thanks for coming in. Who's coming in here? Ben, you don't have to sit. Sarah, okay, I need to come in. I didn't even use my nifty little pen. It was got it. Yeah. Thank you. Next up, the Sherman's at 193 River Street. Thanks for coming in. Sure. All clear. I'm going to raise your hand. The song we've done and subject to the claims and penalty for curging. This morning you're going to give us the truth, but nothing about the truth. Now we're going to pursue an assessor. Reappraiser contractor set an initial value of $235,900. Homeowners did attend the informal hearing and changes were made to address condition issues. No changes were made during the formal grievance. Subject property is built around 1907 as 1588 square feet finish above grade with one bathroom, three bedrooms. The home is grade C. Average for quality is in fair condition. It's given a fair amount of depreciation of 41%. The reappraiser contractor did measure and inspect the property. Five comparable sales are located in same neighborhood, same street, same high traffic area. And they're averaging between $110 and $193 to $229 a square foot. Subject assessment is $138 a square foot or $219,100. Sale two is felt to be the most most recent and best reflection of current market value. It does sit up off the road. And as you can tell the price per square foot on sale number two is much higher, but it is the most recent. And it does sit on River Street, but it sits back. So it doesn't suffer the same traffic as a subject property does, but it is a recent sale. Equity comparables are also located on River Street. And they are between $139 and $192 per square foot. The third equity comparison, as you can see that one sold on the previous page for $263 and the assessment on that one is $2211. So the subject property appears to be fairly and equitably assessed at $219,100. Any questions on that for me? Well, one question I have is that they're saying that the best comparable is $191, River Street. Which isn't realistic here. Not listed as right. They don't have those comments. Probably would be the reason why I didn't use it. Okay. I'll talk to him. At the moment it's vacant. Since I'm putting together a little legend of these classifications, what does traffic mainway? Traffic mainway. So that's going to be a heavily traveled highway. We're about 20 feet off of it. Any members of the board have any other questions to assess or before you go? And you can see the condition adjustments that are on that. The side with the picture. Yeah. Sorry. Can you remind me 41% appreciation means lower than average appreciation or high depreciation? It means high depreciation. So higher the depreciation or lower the value. If you were to build a house and do nothing to it, many standards are that it would last 60 years if you did nothing to it. This one is got 60% of its life left to it. Do you have your hand up? The reduction, so you're looking at the condition is fair here. That's what it shows. Was there a different condition before you, the reduction was made from the original? Yes. They were, I believe they were calling it average. And upon discussion with the Shermans, they changed it to fair. So they gave it a higher depreciation. Okay. Mr. Sherman. A couple of questions just on the DCA hearing. Looking at the comparable sales, the price per square foot for our houses, this is a 138 for fair condition. We're one that's in good condition at 15 River Street is listed as 110 per square foot. And 301 Berlin Street, which is an average condition is listed as 138, the same as ours. So that's, it's not a really, it's not the only way to gauge value. Because as you can see with that first comp, it's almost a thousand square feet bigger than yours. So as it gets bigger, the price per square foot is going to go down. It's just kind of a way to gauge equity that you're not being over assessed. So it's not strictly the hell we come up with, with values. And also the equity comparison on the next page for 161 River Street. The condition, the dollar per square foot goes down to 192 for 229. That's the, that's the assessed value versus the sale price. So the first on the first side of the sales. Okay. Yup. And then the assessment. Yup. Okay. So we try to figure out, you gotta find two, is it assessed fairly when you compare to market value and are you fairly assessed with your neighbors? So why don't you tell us your story? Well, do you folks have a copy of the letter I sent in? Yes. And do you have a copy of the amendment to that dated October 31st? Yes. Okay. That pretty much lays out. Is there a little letter? There's the original letter dated August 18th. Yes. And then there's an, an addendum to that dated October 31st. Okay. And Johnny, now back to us ladies. Thank you. That was listing a house that just barely went up for sale, the Gomez house, which is about twice the size of ours. And though they're assessed at 43800, they've listed it for 295. Is that the duplex? That's the duplex. I gotta tell you, I mean, so first of all, we're trying to establish market value of April 1, but I saw that list of the other day. And I honestly don't know why it's listed so low. I don't know if there's something going on with the family. And they've got a garage. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what's happening there. So do you want to tell us anything or do you want to just have us rely on? It's pretty much just relying on the letter. It's all there and then the addendum. Most of it is, I've got, I think, more accurate comparables. I mean, 191 River Street is just on the other side of Blackwell from us. It's about the same size house. It's a little bit older than ours. It's wood construction rather than brick. Is that a sale? That's 191. 191 was sold a year ago last fall. I don't know. River Lee bought it. Patty died three years ago, I think. Yeah. So I think it was sometime in total. Oh, that's a commercial. Is it three units beside the car wash? No. No. No, this is just opposite Blackwell Street from us. Okay. Just the other side of that. Steve Verbalini bought it for 90. $90,000. And it's a price. And it was in a similar condition as far as repairs to ours at that time. He's done a lot of remodeling since. Though I don't know where he's got his permits lined up yet. Because it's still unoccupied. No. And he's been done with the remodeling for a while. But right now it's vacant. And do you have other comparables? Aside from 191 and other comparables? I was just saying 191 is the most comparable. Some of the ones he's listed right down the street. These were all built about, that whole walk was built about the same time. And there's a granite shed across the street. And this was all worker housing. Okay. Any questions from members of the board? So I obviously would have the letter. But what I'm hearing in terms of the things that we're able to consider here, that water drainage is an issue. And I'm just looking at the letter. Got the information about the comps. Mr. Chairman, I'm curious if you've looked at the card. And if you agree generally with the assessment of the condition in the card. Or if there are errors there that you'd like to point out. As far as I know, the card's fine. I don't know the terminology all that well. Yeah. We don't either. We're learning. I was sitting where you are, 35 years ago when I was on city council. Yeah. And right after I got on city council, we were, it was a re-brazil. And I was on the committee. So I've been on your side of the table. So one of the things that we'll, I imagine we'll consider is the degree of depreciation and which they're calling, he's calling it 41%. Yeah, I'm presuming sometime along there will be somebody coming to visit. Yeah. And I can point out to you all the things that haven't been done. Yeah. Yeah. And fair. Well, we'll have that conversation that is listed as fair to average. Yeah. Again, I don't know where things fall on that. Thank you. All right. Any other questions or should you just go right to the point on the committee? I haven't done one yet tonight. I'll sign up for it. Mary, were you raising your hand? Yeah. Yeah, I'm following. Great. Okay. And we'll be right here with the contact information. Okay. Great. Okay. We will be in touch with people that I can't really expect. Time for a call. Excellent. Hard to know. Mary, the three of us will talk. Okay. Rosie. Can we get the appropriate card for 191? I can email it to you. Great. Great. You know, we've got Thanksgiving coming up. Yes. As soon as you said we're at Alina, I remember why I didn't use it because I've never known Steve to pay market value for any home, which is why I didn't use it. I know. I said I wasn't going to talk. It was 70. He bought it for 90. And I think now it's at 133 if I didn't use it. Okay. And you said that he's got permits pulled because I know I haven't been in to see the finished work of it. Yeah, I don't know if he's even part of it. He's pretty good about that. First thing they had to do was replace the whole basement wall. Yeah. That took them all summer last year. That's why Steve picks these up because they're usually something wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for coming in. We'll be in touch. Thank you. All right. Mr. Star. Next up is four and a half Sibley app. Currently owned by Tracy Star. The reappraisal contractor set an initial value of $86,100 down from the previous grand list value of $107,400. This is going to be a really tricky property. It sits on a point zero. Have a seat wherever you're coming. Yeah. Point zero six acre lot on Sibley. It was built around 1900. The home is rated as being in very poor condition. There are 1424 square feet above grade with one full bathroom and three bedrooms. Does have a full concrete basement. The construction quality is graded as C. Subject has no functional kitchen and one bath that would take substantial work to become functional. Therefore the dwelling is given a 95% depreciation. So we were talking about that earlier. It's got about 5% life left to it. Subject property had a privacy fence installed by four Sibley, which partially blocks access to the subject property. The subject does have a right of way, which is shown on an attached, the third attached fourth attachment to your, to your handout there. The subject property does receive a reduction in assessment for access issues and for lot issues. There's also an issue with the water shut off to the subject property. It runs through the neighbor at four Sibley. It runs through the basement. The city worked with the property owner of four and a half Sibley and four Sibley to try to remedy that situation, but were unable to come to an agreement. So the subject property currently has no water. Comparable sales, 12 North College Street. That was a gutted home when it sold. 14 George Street was a foreclosure. 196, that was listed also as being a very poor home when it sold. It did sell outside of the three-year sale study, but there was a limited amount of comparable sales to find within the city. Equity Comparables. From a couple of weeks ago, 71 Berlin Street. That's the property that a couple of you guys will be working on for the Morse family. The assessment on that one is 77,500, which is at $59 a square foot. 11 Hubbard Street is a foundation only at $97. Assessments 87,200 and 17 River. That was currently uninhabitable in the assessment on that one is similar to the subject of 87,300. Roughly the same size square footage. So it appears that the, all of the negative aspects of the subject property were taken into consideration when the assessment of $86,100 was set. On to the property record card. If you look at the side with the P that has the land values down at the very bottom, you'll see that there's an easement, a negative easement adjustment and a negative location adjustment. So what we're saying here is that that lot, if there was no issues to it would sell for 125,000. So given the negative factors of access, the assessed value of the land alone is $76,700. And on the very top of that same page, you'll see the building value of $9,400. So the building itself is given pretty minimal value. And that's what gives us a total assessed value of $86,100. On the other side, the side with the picture and the sketch, there are notes of the location under the comment section about the fence, the water and sewer, the poor condition of the property. You'll see that the bath features, the bathroom is rated as poor, kitchen is rated as poor. Overall, the home, like I said earlier, was given a 95% depreciation. So the depreciation, I mean, there is still a building standing there, so there is some value to it, but it's pretty minimal. Next is the map. This survey was done for 4 Sibley Avenue, and you can see just to the right of it, there is an 8-foot common access easement granting access to the subject property. Any questions on any of this? Okay, lots of questions. Where is the fence on your map? This was done before the fence, but it runs, if you look at the dark line of number 4 Sibley, just to the north of it, there is a retaining wall. So it runs along that fence, it runs along that property line. There is the fence. Okay, there is my house. There is the fence. This thing is 60-foot long. It is taller than I am. Is this dark? Okay. In his handout, there are lots of good pictures that will show where the fence is. But it does stop. I'm not a surveyor, but it stops near. This was all approved by the zoning department. I was told by the zoning administrator that they visited the site and that the fence is legal. Mary, do you think you had your raise? And then so? Not for, say, a commentary on the depreciation or the quality of this current building. But I'm curious if there comes a point when you're looking at a property that is so far deteriorated that you say there is no value to the structure and that you just do the land. It absolutely will come to that point. I have seen cases where it will detract value having a building there. This is not leaking. It's structurally upright. There is an addition to it that should probably be taken off. But the structure itself, I visited this property myself. There is still value to the building. It's a contractor special, no doubt about it, but there is value to it being there. Could you elaborate a little bit more about the water situation? There's a city water shut off that's in the basement of number four? Yeah, originally, as I understand, it was built. Dad and son or dad and daughter, whatever the situation was, and the water goes through the basement of four sibling, two, four and a half sibling. There was an issue. The neighbors got into an argument. The owner of number four shut the water off. That is a lie. Mr. Starr, you will have a chance to testify. Thank you. Just hold on. We did not get in an argument. If I apologize, but at least get the facts correct, the city of Montpelier turned off switch inside four and a half four siblings basement. We'll consider that a question and I'd like you to stop interrupting. I know you are very upset about this situation. Do you know the situation with the water? Yeah, so the city tried to remedy the situation by offering a solution to reroute the water to four and a half sibling, and there was no agreement between the owner of four and a half sibling and the city of Montpelier to reroute water to the property. No agreement between the city and four and a half to move the water? What about four? Four shut it off and refused to turn it back on. So the city was trying to find an alternative way to get the water to the subject property. Go ahead, Karen. Another question about the fence and the easements and the access. You said that it partially blocks access to the property. Can you describe exactly how that works and can you drive a car up there and park it and get in now? There's a car stuck behind that fence now that you would have to get lifted out. Yeah, so there was an abandoned, I don't know if the vehicle works I couldn't tell you, but there is a vehicle on the other side of the fence, the fence was put up and the vehicle is stuck there. But there is approximately eight feet between the fence and another property to walk up into the subject property. So you could access it by on foot, but not with a car? Correct. Yeah, because there's so with the fence, if you were to park a car there's also a cement retaining wall which is starting to collapse. So this right of way is eight feet, looks like it's four feet on it's four feet on the property of number four and it's four feet on the property next door. I would assume so. At the entrance? That's what it looks like. So that's correct the way it is, it's four and four. Could you block that right of way? No, could you park in that right of way? I don't know. Four and a half has use of that right of way. I don't know if there's any written agreements of what they're allowed to park. That I don't know. Yes, yeah. Okay. I'm still trying to get a grip on this fence. Does the fence extend onto the right of way? It stops at, I believe and I don't know exactly, but what the zoning administrator told me is that it stops on the property line. So I would assume it to come closer to that. In the middle of the right of way. I would assume. Is the building occupied at all? No. Oh, it's not? No, it couldn't be right now. In my description, the kitchen is not functional. The bathroom doesn't work in the water. He's got a small space here in the basement. Just to clarify about the bathroom. There's only one bathroom and it's non-functional, is that right? Correct. So if there was a service to the building I would assume so. So it's not that it doesn't have a toilet, it doesn't have a toilet. The fixtures are there. Yes. All right, Mr. Sorry, you've been patient. This is where I came in. My hearing is not the greatest. So I'm hearing 50 to 90% of what everyone is saying. But just, you know. Great. Start by having you raise your right hand. Yeah, one or the other. Do you solemnly affirm subject to the pains and penalties of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Thank you. Now why don't you tell us your story about this property? First of all, everyone should have seen the appeal we got a PDF of this and that also includes the appeal for the July hearing that I had with Marty which addresses a lot of what he mentions about the right away and some other things. And quite honestly you know some of this stuff goes back to 2012 when the City of Montpelier turned off the shutoff switch in Fort Sibley's basement and in reference to what Marty was saying about some type of agreement that was an agreement through the justice of appeal of something I can't and anyway where I was supposed to come to an agreement with Fort Sibley with Fort Sibley's water on and my water off and Yvonne I believe there's a name to remember this 2012 only took and at that time it was a different owner. Anyway, you would know all this stuff and so I cannot recover I cannot go through all of this stuff in the five or ten minutes or fifteen minutes you're going to allow me. You have to read this stuff this appeal for example the right away is between Fort Sibley and Sibley so that does not give access to a home that to my understanding only allows service vehicles you know a typical service vehicle might be like a propane tank to drive up the driveway between Fort Sibley and Sibley but that is the extent of that right away this fence again if you've seen the picture of it this thing and again all of you should have received this PDF is you know I'll just read it from here I want to say 60 foot long but it's 56 feet long 6 feet high and it's solid you cannot get through it I as far as who lives there this is my home you know if again if you read this information there is background on how and why I bought this house you know the summary is I came to Vermont a long time ago to go to college I was not able to do that and circumstances I ended up buying this house instead that's the short version but my home between the heat no water that is totally again you have to read this material that is the city of Montpelier who did those things and then basically they just walked away and said well you know what that's just tough luck for you and that was for me and then in 2019 Ben Davis no put up this wall basically blocking all access to my home and a lot of that material what Marty went over this appeal is dated July 31st which again would have been included in here so the right of way you know the house is I have the house has no value anything with it I have trouble even getting there I only want to go to my house because it's so damn depressing this is my home how many of you people have a home this isn't an apartment building this isn't a novelty thing this is my home now yes I happen to be living somewhere else obviously I have asked a contractor to work on my home pre-works because I have a lot of homes a lot of trees in the back of my house I still have one more and that was in 2019 2019 this was obviously put in two you know after that tree which had no problem said yeah we'll knock down a whole bunch of these trees I have one left because it's a much bigger one and I didn't have it cut down at that time because I had like 20 30 of most of the relatively small ones tree works won't even they'll just say look we won't even give you an estimate we will not touch that house and the only difference is that fence now as far as this thing here by the way this is misleading this is the back of the house it's built on a hill there's Foster Street above this is going however whoever took this picture made Marty made Matt I don't know the contractor who they subcontracted to whatever the appraising office it was but anyway someone took this picture this you have to you have to climb up the hill and go way up close to the back end of Foster Street to take this picture our it's built on a hill there's the subsidized apartment land trust I can't think of the name that has you know over here you can't see in this one right here maybe you can see it we have the low income apartment you know and then on this side you have six simply you cannot get to my home I cannot do anything with this and regardless of what Marty says about a right-of-way again the right-of-way is between forcibly and sixively I practically speaking do not see any way that a contractor can realistically work on my home and again I go through that in this appeal and that's the one other thing that I noticed that was kind of interesting that you went over with Marty which I didn't notice before without all these homes 71 Burlman Street 11 Hubbard Street 17 River Street and I think there's a few more 12 College Street how many of these homes have a wall built in front of their home blocking access go ahead and compare my home you can say yeah well my bathroom in my kitchen and this and this like this this low grade that and whatever but you know what who had a fence built like this in front of their home I have been in Vermont for 30-35 years I don't know 1984 maybe something like that I have you know I've been all over Vermont over the years I've done tons of things I've probably traveled just about every single road and just about probably every single back road at one time I have never seen a fence built like this especially a home on a hill where there's really no other way to get to it and so to you know kind of disingenuous to say oh well you know look at all these homes and we'll just do a comparison to these homes these homes do not have a big gigantic wall in front of their home and on top of that why use this picture you know you probably couldn't even tell that you had to like really do some climbing to get to this point you know literally you have to climb up a hill it's a pretty I've been up there it's a pretty steep climb why don't you just take why don't you just take this picture and show that wall that's a little disingenuous I can't do anything with my home and regardless what Marty said about a contractor and this and whatever you know yes it has no water it has no heat and by the way the bathroom would be pretty much fine all the fixers in the bathroom works find the tub there's the tile because I had some plumbing work done on the tub and so the tiles is torn out of there but basically everything works actually just about everything works in the house including the kitchen there's really cosmetics most of the kitchen just needs to be there is actually a light up there like one of these things like that probably needs to be torn down and redone but most of it is cosmetics everything works in the house it's actually a pretty damn good house I had the roof replaced in 2005 2010 I painted it about the same time I couldn't do it now thank goodness I did I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing if anything goes wrong this thing here this porch right there I'd like to hire a contractor to fix that porch that would probably be about a $600 job I'm guessing I don't know I won't even call a contractor I mean how the hell is a contractor supposed to fix that porch that's probably just a $600 job maybe where where are they supposed to work I mean they're going to work here they're going to work in front of between that's a good job easily maybe a couple of days out maybe a week job how is a contractor they're going to need a circular saw they're going to need a table saw they're going to probably have a work band or something of the equivalent I don't know I won't even call a contractor the contractor is going to look at that and say I can't do that job I can't even barely move a bank of box to and from my home what about appliances what about furniture anything and again all of this stuff is just read this material I can't go over all this stuff this is a lot of material read it if you want to know how much my house is I was talking to John here just a little while ago and if you want to know what my damn house is for that's how much my house is for because it's worthless I can't do a damn thing with it and this is my home I'm supposed to write in this home this is my home that I bought because for various reasons I could not go to college it's a long story I don't know it would make the goods so upper maybe but I don't know I could go on obviously boy he is really teed up about this who would be this is my home yes regardless of where I may be staying right now obviously I ain't living here I just hope that maybe somebody in this room obviously not the city of Montpelier because the city of Montpelier wanted to they have had 10 plus years I just hope somebody in this room wants to do the right thing I don't Bob you've got the first when was the last time you were able to live in this house what year probably honestly 2011 because that's when that's when the whole thing started with my water and I made it again that is outlined in here but both of us Terry Del Fetti who was the owner of course he was at that time and myself was going to go to the our helping out here Marty the community development program whatever in Montpelier and we were going to get a low income loan to fix the water line the water line did actually break but it was in the yard because it goes from my house under the ground about 3 feet into Forcibly and then out the other front end and then down Forcibly into the main water line and there was a break in the water line in Forcibly's yard and so we were both going to go to the city of Montpelier planning and development and get a low income loan and have it fixed and the low income loan is where you get in this case the water line fits and then it's a loan paid for by the city of Montpelier and then you don't have to pay it back until you sell your home and always in the process of we were both there was a lot of conditions that we needed we needed 3 references or estimates and there was a lot of and again that is all I think pretty much outlined in here you know that's actually the city of Montpelier's shop that they paid to have it but anyway at the same time I also had I also had custody of my granddaughter and this was in I actually I was Forcibly had completed the application process before I did which then subsequently they had the water line fixed and I was still in the process of I was actually doing two things at the same time I was in probate court for my granddaughter and at the same time I was doing this so the logical thing is have the water line fixed I would finish my application submit my application to the planning development and then I would pay the other half but then when and then also obviously the water was turned on on February 29th 2012 by the city of Montpelier in Terry's basement in Forcibly's basement and that was by the city of Montpelier and they did not notify me and actually on that date I was in a full day probate hearing for my granddaughter on February 29th 2012 and that's when Forcibly's water was turned on because it was initially turned off back in like November or December of 2011 so the water for Forcibly was turned back on from the city main however in the basement of Forcibly the city of Montpelier who had who was doing all whatever they also had the plumber that they paid turned off my the shutoff switch to the water that goes you know that right before it goes out the foundation between four and four and a half since then I haven't really been able to do anything with my home so that was 2012 I lost water I lost heat I mean what are you supposed to do with the home you know after that the city of Montpelier just walked away and said look now there's a problem between you and Forcibly but the problem was Forcibly had water and I didn't and then Forcibly started asking for all these you know they through the can you help me out here Marty what is the downstairs in the basement I think it was community justice community justice is that what it's called community justice center yeah I think so I think her name was Yvonne maybe I don't think she works there any longer no and they came up with this ridiculous contract that I was supposed to sign that basically said that I was not allowed in Terry's basement and if there was a problem site unseen a plumber would would be called and they would fix it and then we would split anyway and that was a water dump and there was a whole bunch of things that Terry wanted and you know the simple solution would have been just turn back on the water the water turn off switch I would have finished the application and then I would have been in but no I have not really been able to do anything with my home since 2012 Mary so in the assessor's information he says the home is heated with a hot water system so do you have heat in your in your home no so there is no heat no there is more heat it's what more heat I need water for heat okay oh good point yeah and so and also I bought a grain and boiler in 2010 yeah that was a $3,000 boiler and if you had water yes what how would it be heated is an electric is it propane if I had water can you yeah I understand if you had water how would it be heated to provide heat in the home it would be heated by a boiler it's a propane there is a boiler in the base yeah it's propane it's propane actually two propane gaps are completely filled do you also have electricity into the home I have been putting as the first couple of years I was putting a small electric heater you know the kind that you buy that won't do my question I mean I know it's no I don't know they're only heating the houses the propane got it but you obviously also have electricity that serves the home yeah electricity is fun yeah the electricity is practically the only thing that still works in that place got it thank you Kim good morning you say the land has value but I don't see how it has value if you look at water through the right there is a solution to it there is a way to do it I'm not a legal I'm not a real estate attorney but it's my understanding you can't create a piece of land if there's no access to it so I believe from what I have seen in the research you can run water through the right way and that right of way also gives you access to the property that's my opinion you may have to check with an attorney but I don't believe you can create four and a half sibling with no access to it Mr. Stone if I can also your question in the picture that's used on the property record card if you look in the assessor file pictures that just happens to be the one that came up on the car there are pictures of the fence there's pictures of the front of the property so if I don't show up to work tomorrow and someone looks at my records they're going to see several pictures of the subject property not just the one that he's pointing out whose car is this I believe Mr. Starr I don't know is that your car behind the fence that is my car so that car was there the fence is it not working is that why you couldn't move it it's not working now but could it have been possible the idea for the car is three homes at one time anyway when people relatively speaking tried to work with one another pre-terri maybe three homes use that driveway and at one time that you know you can probably fit maybe anywhere between 8 and 12 cars from and you can't see all of it let's go back to you know because there is Sibley there is a Ford Comm Creek and then right at the flat which is right at the face of the front of Four Sibley and then obviously you have and then it goes over here and then it's like an L shape you can fit maybe between 8 and 12 cars in there if you really jam them in there I've owned my home since 1987 and it was 1985 when I moved in here sorry about that so I bought my home in 1987 so the point of the car is in the wintertime when my car is back because my car would be back the furthest from all the other ones either I would do the shoveling to get to my car and then everyone else would drive up there because I would have to shovel the furthest to get back to my car because the furthest or I would not shovel and everyone else would pull out of the driveway and my car would get stuck there so the point of the car was so that I could have a car in my driveway for my home and I could still do my fair share of the shoveling but at the same time I wasn't doing shoveling for three homes where no one because I did that for years and years and years I would do all the shoveling and I would say look could you help me out here four and six simply nobody would but my car would get shoveled in there or snowed in there and the only way to get out was to shovel the entire driveway so finally I came up with the compromise I would have a car up there I moved between four and four and a half sibling and I would do my fair share of shoveling it would not be a working car but at the same time I would still have a car and then if four and four siblings and six siblings wanted to do their fair share of shoveling and park up there they would actually have to park and that's why the car is there and so are we right am I right in thinking that this right-of-way is where the people at six and four also park their cars okay I don't quite understand the question but let me first the right-of-way there is actually another right-of-way on the other side of four siblings but that's something totally different but I believe the right-of-way that you're referring to is the right-of-way between four and six siblings is that where they park are actually before Ben Davis know and to a certain extent maybe a little bit before Terry they would just park anywhere you know realistically you can probably comfortably fit maybe two cars on four siblings side if they're relatively small cars two cars on six siblings side and then one car be pre-wall blocking access to my home between four and four and a half siblings and for the most part that is there was my car between four and four and a half and then there was either one or two cars between two on the side four siblings two on the side six siblings and generally speaking 80% of the again when I say 80% of the time that goes back to 1987 and for the most part that is certainly pre-Ben Davis know in the wall and to a certain extent pre-Terry Gelfetti who bought the home in 2011 okay most of the time people work together okay any other questions from members of the board we're going to appoint a committee of three people to come we'll have three people come to look at your place do we have Kerry Kerry Bob and Sal okay Kerry Brown Bob Rose and Sal Alfa will be the members of the committee two-dollar do you need me there yeah we have your contact information you have what your contact information a phone number what's the phone number for you the 476 is a housing area 4767032 7032 okay message there just leave a message it's not a cell phone just leave a message and I will get the message but that's probably that 4767032 is the best and for the most part if you give a time and a date I'm assuming Monday through Friday and probably between 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock is probably a good time frame for people to work around there do you have an e-mail do you have an e-mail address yes sometimes yeah it's in that packet I have a hotmail do you want to use the hotmail one well probably the gmail because the hotmail is telling me that it's called like it's hotmail so I've had it since 2000 and they're saying that the gigabyte is full and as far as I know I'm still receiving e-mail there but the gmail is exactly the same thing is C and it's exactly the same thing for hotmail CRTTSRR at hotmail.com but probably the gmail and the thing is that I don't really check it I don't have a cell phone so you know I try to check it maybe every two weeks to a month so the phone message is probably you'll probably get an answering machine but just say this is the Board of Authority we would like to meet you at your home in Montpelier and just give any day Monday through Friday for the most part you'll 12 to 3 and I should be able to be there and a callback number alright thank you for coming in this is mind boggling yeah really read this material just consider it as a non-fiction I think I made good reading but I might be a little bit biased on that one thanks you all stop? yes thank you have a nice day YouTube Charles will make we've not met in person so I apologize for not recognizing ok so next up is 62 Terrace Street owned by the owners reappraise the contract or set an initial value of 433-300 property owners did come to the informal informal meetings no changes were made home sits on a 0.35 acre lot on Terrace Street neighborhood traffic good similar to the earlier report the jail property properties of one and a half story Kate built around 1953 home is rated as very good condition as measured and inspected by the reappraisal contractor there's 1488 square feet of finish one full bathroom one three quarter bath a half bath two bedrooms home is rated C plus so better than average for quality build three comparable sales 62 and 29 Terrace Street 62 Terrace Street is of course the subject property itself that sold for $490,000 in July of 2022 selling for $329 per square foot as you can see there again it's in very good condition 29 Terrace Street is in good condition $315 per square foot $410,000 22 Pinewood Road sold for $371 $371 per square foot the assessment of the subject property is $433,300 or $291 per square foot first sale obviously is felt to be the best best example of current market value as it's the subject itself equity comparisons similar properties on the same the same neighborhood same street same build, same quality they're in the $295,000 to $461,000 range well within the subject property assessment of $433 $1 per square foot is anywhere between $211 per square foot and $296 per square foot subject property is assessed at $291 per square foot so it appears that the subject property of 62 Terrace Street is fairly assessed at $433,300 sales of comparisons and the subject itself support this value the home is listed in May of 2022 for $434 and sold July 15th of 2022 for $490 it is rated as being in much better condition which is reflected in the per square foot value of the subject property on the property record card itself you'll see on the side with the sketch in the picture depreciation on the home is very low it is given a minimal amount of depreciation because it is in very good condition it's a very well kept home as you can see in the comments section the bathroom is in average to good condition as is the 3 quarter and a half bath on that same side of the page over the right hand side below the sketch you'll see sub area detail and that will tell you that the property is 52% finish in the basement other side will give you the land breakdown and the neighborhood description it also does break down if you're looking at the building value versus the land value at the very top of page 2 questions on this one Rosie so I see that the quality is average plus and in the comments it says original finishes with mixed updates what makes it very good the build so it was built using quality materials 2 by 6 construction versus 2 by 4 on the front it says the construction so the quality is going to be the construction so that's the construction you're saying that it's in very good condition oh very little depreciation it's been kept up as time goes on so even though it's like the original finishes because it's been kept up that's what makes it very good correct and it was inspected by the re-appraisal contractor so they did get inside Marty is there a walkout basement is it on a hill there that's it would you like me to clarify please it might be easier I don't have it on here I just wanted to answer that's just a factual thing anybody else any other questions from the board alright we saw them reaffirm subject to the pains and penalties of perjury because somehow you're about to give the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth alright you're on so I did give a report I think it has been handed out we sort of made it when I saw what Marty was going to say a little bit a little more concise but essentially a couple of things if you want us to have that I don't think I have enough for everyone maybe just for the three committee sure so a few things if I look at similar properties in our neighborhood and I look at the square foot value of those homes if you subtract the value of the land I see a pretty market difference between mine and theirs and quite frankly I don't see the justification for the very good ranking for our house when compared to those and obviously the folks that come to look at it can make that I think that's kind of a judgment call but you know so for instance if you subtract the value of the land just to normalize it based on right here and then you look at it our home is valued at $224 square foot and typical homes in the neighborhood are about $129 to $198 square foot our home doubled in value between the last time any renovation work was done and this assessment and then typical homes more like 20 to 67% if you look at the grade construction at sea frost is very good and again you know we have the original kitchen cabinets that have been painted over a number of times in the original windows from 1950 and if you look at the home immediately adjacent to our facing at number 60 it's literally almost exactly identical I would say the difference is their windows have been replaced with vinyl windows ours have not I believe they were built within a year of each other almost certainly it's the same builder exact same means and methods of construction their home is valued at $295,000 ours is $433,000 so the spread between those two is market and I can't see any way that that is justified even if there are some differences in the quality of construction I've also been in a few of the other homes in the neighborhood and they all seem to be of fairly typical construction and interior finishes I am not an expert in comparable sales but I will say the two that have been offered here $29,000 I believe that property is a duplex so I'm not sure it's really a comparable sale I think if you look it up in the listing which I would imagine would drive the price of that up and then 22 Pinewood Road is on 0.9 acres I believe so a significantly different amount of land and if you subtract the value of that land that's actually valued at $258 a square foot so again it seems significantly larger or like higher in square foot value than the rest of the subject properties so I think there's maybe something going on with the model for how homes that did not sell recently are being appraised versus how homes that have sold recently have been appraised especially given the crazy market dynamics that we're in for instance the home directly across the street from us is 61 Terrace Street it's appraised here at $449,000 it sold or they closed on sale about three months after the values were supposed to be set so that was July of 23 for $575,000 so if the model is creating values that are that off the actual sales value I don't know that it's necessarily fair to penalize us because we've been sold recently it feels a little bit like you know when I look at the bath features the kitchen, the rating of everything that's average to good and then I look at the overall depreciation it's very good to feel a little bit like the value was backed into to get a little bit closer to the sale value so anyway I welcome you to come by and I think that's what I have to say thank you for your time we have questions you bought this home July for $490,000 correct for $490,000 this is more from Marty so I'm seeing under building permits a bath and garage repairs those are kind of the only recent animations yes and so you purchased the home last year for $490,000 worth I am guessing that that is a compelling issue when we say you know what's its value well you said its value was $490,000 I am curious if there were any circumstances in your life that made you decide that you needed to pay less or more than the value of arms length sale or was something else going on that you can help us evaluate why it's not worth $490,000 you thought it was worth $490,000 a year ago sure I think the difference is the value that I would be willing to pay for this home is similar to the value that I would be willing to pay for numerous other homes that are appraised for significant less right so it's not that I don't think I could resell it for $490,000 it's that I think that my neighbor's home that's valued at $295,000 would likely sell for somewhere in the $400,000 range or you know if you look I could go through them but on the second page of this there's a little bit of spreadsheet which similarly other value other homes in the neighborhood that I believe are undervalued and so it feels to me like if your home has not sold recently at least in our neighborhood the way that the value of your house is generated based on sort of this is not equivalent to what it would be valued at if it had sold recently so it's not as much that you're disputing the value of your home and I heard what you said in terms of you know maybe factoring out land and stuff like that but it's more that your neighbors are under appraised a little bit above I believe the way that the law is written by the state of Ramada is that you should your home should be valued in a way that's equitable for those around you and so the fact that we pay what I could probably sell for to some degree is a little bit irrelevant to this conversation to me part of the conversation is are the values of equivalent homes in the same location or similar location not necessarily like I believe if any of those homes sold they would sell for similar values and would they then be valued that for instance the home across the street that is now appraised at 449,000 which sold for 575,000 obviously there's some delta between what's being generated through this process and the value that's being generated through supermarket arms length transactions so given that line of thought looking at the accessories equity comps table do you I didn't have a chance to go through all of them I mean I think that the easiest one for me is 60 terrace street because it's my neighbor's home and I'm fairly familiar with it and what it looks like literally if you stand in front of my house and you look at their house it's not a carbon copy but it's very close I mean they've replaced the windows with vinyl windows I think if you put our original windows in their home you would be like whoa the picture looks pretty much exactly like this and then as far as interior conditions I haven't been in their house I can't honestly speak to it but I think it's 61 and 63 the two homes across the street I'm quite close with those people and I spend a fair amount of time in their homes and I think they're of similar interior conditions but again I assume the books will have been in so much homes can evaluate that more objectively so can I still ask Marty a question so to get from the sales pros of the home down to 433 you base it on comparables is that how you get from a sales price which is a fair market value to an assessed value yeah as he just pointed there's two well there's actually three things we worry about is the data correct which I think we all agree the data is correct is the home assessed fairly compared to sale price and is it equitably assessed compared to neighbors to come up with a value the reappraisal contractor did a three year sale study from April 1st of 2020 to April 1st of 2023 that's where they come up with a dollar per square foot all the land values and everything so it is all derived from sales and home was listed right at where the reappraisal contractor had set the initial value of 433 and it was listed for sale at 434 so covid is definitely I've got a list here I don't know 35 homes that have sold since the first of this year that are selling at 30, 40 and 50% over assessed value it's just the way the market is going at my pillar right now go ahead Ressie so you were saying that you didn't think there was a any what was on the card but I think that I'm hearing the talent say that you think the quality correct yeah I mean I would say you're contesting the very good I haven't measured it right but presumably the square foot I believe is approximately correct those things the questions might have really yes related to some of the softer things right which is like are you rating average good very good etc I looked around and tried to find homes that were listed very good it's a pretty rare reading from what I've seen and there are new brand new homes that have been built in the last year I think there's one up on the hill and it's not rated very good so it seems like a stretch to me to assign that value to our property which was built in 1953 I admit it's in generally good shape but I don't think it's markedly better than any of the properties surrounding it or certainly not a house that was built in the past few years there are a lot of houses built not good if you look at most of the new ones I do not think very good is the condition assigned to most of them I was going to ask Marty what do we make about the taxpayers comments about 60 terrace street which he's saying is virtually the identical house and it's so much slower that's going to break down a condition difference I don't have the card in front of me I don't know if the contractor got into it but I believe they did so that's going to be a difference in condition which is reflected in the price per square foot any other questions for members of the board tax fighters are comparable he's been involved with them so far I can I can email it off I thought he said that he had not been interested in that well I can still send it off but yes I have been other homes across the street to say that the rating that are very good versus the other homes that doesn't match there's an average ticket I haven't been in 60 so good 60 yeah alright any other questions you can go right to the committee okay I'll do this one alright we've got your email address phone number do you think John certainly has it thanks for all the time did you hear from Michael Michael Wood I'll have to follow up there was a confusion here well this is the thing that we talked about we have something else who is scheduled to be here Michael Wood and we looked this up in the statute what happens if the tax payer doesn't come it's supposed to go to the city yeah it's considered drunk I always assume if there was a screw up there's probably one made by me but I don't think there was in this case well this is a I mean and is it to Judson? so this is another one where I'm going to recommend a lower value I'll explain it all but she is not here because we spoke by previously so I'm going to explain to you the findings that I came up with you can recommend whatever you feel to Judson the reappraisal contract is set to a 4800 she did not come to the informal but did come to formal grievance no changes were made the home is up on Judson Judson which is a very a mid-very good neighborhood which kind of is reflected in the land value a single story ranch built in 1987 this one's rated as being a very I'm sorry average to good condition very little depreciation of 12% 1,250 square feet one full bath one half bath, three bedrooms comparable sales are in similar neighborhoods one, two and three are all mid-very good neighborhoods they're selling between 225 and 284 dollars a square foot 169 town street that is a traffic good so it's still a good neighborhood but not a very good neighborhood and that one's at 285 town hill road I'm sorry what did I say you said town street town street is where I live I get punchy at the end of the night I'm sorry subject property is currently assessed at 384,800 or 308 dollars a square foot so it is above what I feel are good sale comps equity comps are right there on the same same street on Judson same neighborhood, same quality built probably same builder I don't know they're assessing between $243 and $262 a square foot subject is at 308 which I feel is a little high based on the equity comps and the sale comps I feel like $250 per square foot would be more appropriate for the subject property for a total assessed value of 312,500 I believe the record card should be attached to this one as well the reappraisal contractor did inspect the property so I don't believe there are any issues with the physical characteristics of the property I feel like it is just over assessed any questions on any of this so far and is this an agreement that you've reached with the property in order to have it be the assessed at that number what's the number it's $312,500 or $250 per square foot and I can tell you John and I met with the city attorney the other day to get guidance on a few questions and one of them was how should we handle this where there's an agreement between the assessor and the taxpayer and he said the advice he gave us was that it makes sense that for us to here and approve the agreement so we have an agreement before us and the question is do we approve it one question about the agreement so you reduced it in the class of the square foot closer to that yes so I think the best comparison is the equity comps right there in the neighborhood and they're in that $250 per square foot range and also if you compare the sales on the first page you know they're the same thing they're in that $225 to $285 or you know $250 kind of a sweet spot of the sales does that make sense because they're you know the first three are all in similar neighborhoods same conditions so it's not fair to over assess this property of Judson Drive I'm just looking at your comparables and just wondering if we end up with the same question that all these other places are over assessed no the other ones that the sales are over assessed on the equity comparables the assessed value of the neighboring houses no because they're all in the $240 to $260 range and the subject property is at $308 okay plus they're not here but this is smaller size and you say when it's smaller size square footage usually higher it's probably the closest one in square foot okay Tim do you have to say something second any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed all right he's not here the sketching says it's deemed a drop so curious about that because wasn't there somebody else who didn't show in were working to try to get them yeah there were I think three there are two or three and in each case they were withdrawn okay I just want to make sure we treat them all the same as opposed to saying we're assuming you're withdrawn rather than John has followed up with the ones that didn't show up to say like hey did you miss on you know accident or what happened so my question is have we followed up with this guy tonight who didn't show if you followed up with the first bunch even though technically we could say no the statue says no but I'm just saying you get in people differently and that's a flaw I think that's a fair point I'm not looking for more 836 836 and we're reset