CLAREMONT — Six months after public outcry over a $220,000 tax abatement granted by the assessing office on commercial property, the City Council on Wednesday night approved an ordinance creating a board of assessors to help prevent any similar occurrences.
The ordinance for the three-member board takes effect immediately, but it is not clear how long it will take before the three members are appointed.
Stephan Hamilton, who currently serves as the city’s assessor, applauded the council for the decision, saying it is good practice to have abatements “contemplated” by more than one person.
“I think this will dramatically improve the abatement process and provide greater transparency and accountability so I think it is a really good way to proceed,” Hamilton said on Wednesday.
The members, who must have education and experience in related fields including real estate sales/appraisal, assessing, finance or construction will be appointed to scattered terms by the city manager. Duties outlined in the ordinance include “review and comment on assessments” from the assessing department and “consider and decide upon appeals of assessments and sign all abatement forms.”
In September, the council learned that the assessing department granted a $220,000 tax abatement and a 75 percent reduction in the assessed value on the Topstone building on Mulberry Street with the knowledge of then-City Manager Ryan McNutt.
McNutt saw it as an opportunity to allow the owner to possibly invest in renovations to the mostly vacant five-story brick building. Contamination issues have kept the city from pursuing the property through tax deed.
But the abatement of the building, where city councilor Nick Koloski has a business, angered several members of the public. The outcry led Mayor Charlene Lovett to recommend a board of assessors so similar situation in the future would be made public before being approved.
McNutt later would blame his firing in January on the council’s anger over his failure to notify it of the abatement. Though the council did not cite the Topstone, it did say in a resolution that one of the reasons McNutt was fired was a “failure to provide the City Council with advance notice of issues that are or that are likely to be of concern to the public.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
