CLAREMONT — Three and a half years after it voted to create a board of assessors in the wake of public outcry over a controversial tax abatement and assessment reduction on a Mulberry Street property by a former assessor, the City Council has taken the first step toward disbanding the board.
In a 5-3 vote Wednesday night, the council approved a motion by Assistant Mayor Deb Matteau to draft an ordinance that would end the existence of the three-member board that was created in March 2019, seven months after the tax abatement of $220,000 and reduced assessment of 75% of the Mulberry Street property in August 2018.
“I am of the opinion boards of assessors tend to politicize assessment issues needlessly,” Matteau said at the council meeting. “We have a competent assessor on staff and I think that level needs to be used by people who have a grievance. If they are still not happy, then there is the next level. But I think the process in place now is not working. When it was done it was a reaction to what was going on in the city at the time that upset some people and they were trying to find a way around it.”
Matteau said Thursday she views assessing as a “science” that should be done by a professional without involvement by the city manager, council or even a board. She said it is difficult to find people as it requires technical knowledge and the city has that professional in Assessor Stephan Hamilton.
“An assessing board wasn’t needed,” Matteau said Thursday. “It was a reaction to an assessment some didn’t like.”
Hamilton went before the council Wednesday with two requests. One would reduce the education requirements by “encouraging,” instead of requiring, completion of one-week state courses for membership on the board; the other would allow the assessor to step in when decisions have to be made and the board does not have a quorum or when the two members produce a 1-1 vote on abatement. Hamilton said they have struggled to recruit and retain board members and it is important to make decisions in a timely manner. Six months after the board was created, no one had applied to serve.
Abatement requests are received by the assessing office and then brought before the board with a recommendation from assessing on the requests.
“My concern is as we move through the process, we don’t know who will appeal (to the Board of Land and Tax Appeal or Superior Court) abatement decisions, which we made in the spring,” Hamilton said. “But when, and if they do, we want to be prepared (to defend the city’s position). There is not an immediate crisis. What I am hoping to do is provide a pathway to avoid a crisis in the future. We did feel that crisis last spring when we found ourselves with only one seated member.”
Matteau said another reason she wants to end the board of assessors is because delays in making decisions on appeals could get the city in legal trouble and cost more in the long run.
Councilors Jon Stone and Andrew O’Hearne both favored sending Hamilton’s requests to the council’s policy committee but that recommendation did not appear to have the majority’s support.
Councilor Nick Koloski said things are different now than they were when the council created the board of assessors.
“I would argue Mr. Hamilton and his company are fully capable of handling this on their own,” Koloski said. “We keep talking about taking more responsibility here and not board, board, board. This is another one. I feel we tried it and now we are just delaying the inevitable.”
Matteau, along with Mayor Dale Girard and councilors Koloski, James Contois and Matt Mooshian voted in favor of writing an ordinance while Stone, O’Hearne and Bill Limoges were opposed.
In the fall of 2018, the council hastily moved to create a board of assessors under public pressure after former assessor Joe Lessard had forgiven $220,000 in back taxes and reduced the property assessment by 75% on the Topstone building, a five-story former mill building on Mulberry Street. The issue was further politicized because Koloski, as the owner of a restaurant, is a tenant in the building.
The council was caught unaware of Lessard’s decision, which was endorsed by former City Manager Ryan McNutt though he was not involved in making it. McNutt argued the abatement of taxes and the reduced assessment was the best opportunity for the mostly vacant building to be redeveloped.
Some residents argued that the forgiveness of taxes and lower assessment would not have happened if the process were public before a board of assessors.
The council has no authority on abatements, but because the property had been discussed publicly due to contamination issues and back taxes, councilors believed they should have been informed by McNutt of Lessard’s decision.
McNutt later pointed to the Topstone issue as the reason for his firing in January 2019. The council denied that charge but did say his failure to keep the council informed on important issues was one of the reasons for his dismissal.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
