Claremont
The approved wording next will be referred to legal counsel to be put into the form of an ordinance for the council to consider at a future meeting for first and second readings.
If adopted as recommended, the board would have three members and one alternate — none of whom could be a councilor — all appointed by the City Council and the city assessor, a position that currently is vacant.
Qualifications to serve on the board include experience and background in assessing, finance, sales, real estate “and/or” construction, the committee’s recommendation states. Within a year after being appointed, members would have to take the Department of Revenue Administration’s state statute course. To create staggered terms, the first appointments would serve three years, two years and one year, respectively; after that, every term would be three years.
The duties of the board are outlined in state law, but the committee added a list of 13 additional duties and responsibilities. Those include hearing resident comments on the assessing division, advising the assessor on division problems and policies, staying informed on the assessor’s activities, and preparing an annual report by Dec. 1 that will include the total assessed valuation of all city real estate and any taxes that have been abated.
The council also agreed to add wording from the Keene, N.H., board of assessor ordinance, which states in part that all properties are assessed fairly so no one is paying more than their share of taxes, though Mayor Charlene Lovett noted that the wording is contained in the state statute. The council also agreed to add a condition stating that a city councilor could not serve on the board.
The council has moved rapidly in creating the board after a controversy erupted in September with the abatement of about $220,000 in taxes owed on the Topstone mill building on Mulberry Street and reduce the property’s assessed value by 75 percent. The abatements were made by the city’s contracted assessor, who had the authority to do so and was supported by City Manager Ryan McNutt.
Amid the subsequent public outcry, McNutt defended the tax abatement, stating it was the best — and likely only — way for the owner of the Topstone to seek financing to address contamination issues and begin redevelopment of the five-story, early-19th-century mill building. Others criticized McNutt for not informing the council, which had discussed whether to take the property, where Councilor Nick Koloski has a restaurant, for back taxes.
At the beginning of the discussion on the policy committee’s recommendation, Koloski spoke in support of the proposal.
“I think it is great to have a board of assessors,” he said. “It puts another set of eyes on something before it happens.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
