Recently in Local Taxes Category
The Following was submitted to the Meredith News for publication
Letter to the Editor –
Is Moultonboro a Donor TOWN or are we Donor INDIVIDUALS?? And WHY??
The Selectmen’s Meeting on Thursday August 19th touched on the issue of taxes that are “due” from Moultonboro to the State to satisfy the commitment that the State has levied on us as a “donor town”. This tax is due in December of 2011, but the Selectmen have proposed billing taxpayers early. They propose billing in two assessments, half of the burden in each bill, one in July and one in December, to avoid one large “pre-Christmas” payment. A few issues arise….
1. No one would willingly accept a bill 6 months early of when it was due. If Sears billed us early to avoid one large December bill we would be furious. And if we had to pay early, who would collect (and benefit from) the interest? So why does this seem like a good idea to the town?
2. No one would willingly accept a tax bill without expecting that the source of the bill had tried to figure out some alternative. If the bill is a “Town” bill, we should expect that Moultonboro would try to find all (or at least part) of the $3.4M “Donor Town” bill from it’s operating budget. The Selectmen said that they would not be able to find the 14% in the town budget. But by not covering it, they imply that we, the taxpayers can (and, in fact, have to do so.)
3. In response to a question about whether the tax was for the town or for the individuals IN the town, the Selectmen responded that they thought that the tax was an Individual tax (not a town tax) but would check with Concord to determine whether that is really the case, but they believed that individuals could not pay the State directly. If it is an “individual” bill, we each have to plan our payment and plan our individual budgets to cover the tax from our personal operating budget. And if it is, we should pay the State directly. When it is due (not before)! And our response -in terms of our reaction to the tax- should then be directed to our State government, not to our local representatives.
4. The Donor concept suggests that some towns (Moultonboro, apparently) can afford to help other, less able (Amherst??) towns with their school bills. If it is an individual tax, the implication is that the State (and town) believes that we as individuals can afford to pay 14% more ($3.2M over a 2009 Budget of 24.2M) in taxes. Oh really? This is a clear redistribution of income issue that doesn’t belong in New Hampshire! We have been here before….and know what we’re facing again. It is no better this time. In the current economy, it’s a lot worse.
Property taxes are going to be up significantly (an across-the-board 14%) as a result of this change. Combined with the reassessment, many are looking at HUGE tax increases this year. Thursday at 4pm is a chance to see the Selectmen on the Reassessment. Come join in for that first step.
Janet Cramer
Moultonboro.
The following letter was submitted to the Meredith News for publication next week. This is posted with the writer's permission.
Letter to the Editor Meredith News August 2010
The Vision Appraisal Process in Moultonboro has resulted in amazingly flawed results and frustrated homeowners have been given little hope that these results will be improved. With the devaluation of properties nationwide and locally that has been well documented, and the large number of properties that have languished, unsold, on the market in the last several years, the news that our lakeside property values have increased 28% (roughly $250,000 in a large number of homes) is ridiculous. The entire town valuation has increased! Have you heard of ANY town in the country whose values have increased?
As a Realtor, I can assure you that property values are not up. Assessments are NOT up. Private assessments (and they happen regularly every time a home mortgage is obtained for financing or refinancing) are down. Realtors work daily with clients to determine the selling price of a property through a “Comparative Market Analysis” process which has similarities to the assessment process, and I doubt that you could find a Realtor who would say that home prices have gone up from the prior appraisals to the new time period of April 2009-April 2010.
The DATA that Vision Appraisals has used for waterfront is flawed. With nearly 1800 waterfront lots in Moultonboro, there were 30 sales in the April 2009-April 2010 time frame. Of those 30, 5 were discarded (for a variety of reasons that VA deemed valid) and the remaining 25 sales formed the basis of the analysis of value in such a convoluded way that it can’t be simply summarized. Suffice it to say that the properties were sub divided into “zones,” sales price was compared to prior assessed value, and factors were assigned that were applied to get the new values. Essentially groups of 2-5 homes with widely varying prices and sizes were used to come up with the new assessment. And the results were hugely different from the prior year.
Vision Appraisal did their analysis without sharing the way that they did it, didn’t discuss the methods that they used, sent out the new valuations, and had “meetings” with residents.,,,not to answer questions, but just to provide a “step” (hurdle?) before owners were able to talk with the Selectmen or the Town Appraiser. Then the owners were told to wait for the tax bills to arrive, PAY THE TAXES and file for an abatement later.
Who does Vision Appraisals work for? They work for the Selectmen. The Town Assessor (we HAVE one!) works for the Selectmen. The Selectmen responded with surprise at the Selectmen’s meeting on Thursday night at the extent of the frustration and anger over the new appraisals. They promised to “look into” the situation. Until they do, and until the issue is resolved, waterfront owners should get together to agree on a response….whether they pay their last year tax rate or hold off payment altogether, a unified response to this abysmal process should be developed.
Janet Cramer
Cameron said she was most recently paying $4,800 in taxes — a $1,000 increase from three years ago. In 2005, the city tax rate was $19.61. For 2008, the rate is $23.43.
"That's $400 a month in taxes alone," Cameron said.
November 14th, 2008
By JENNIFER KEEFE
jkeefe@fosters.com
SOMERSWORTH — Nancy Cameron's new place has a bathroom attached to her bedroom. Her dog, a pug/dachshund mix named Dewey, has been enjoying the yard. And her utilities will likely cost less each month.
But, she says, "it's not home anymore."
The place she's called home for the past 19 years on
She and her partner split up three years ago, and she was left trying to pay mounting costs by herself. It seemed like everything stopped being possible.
"You factor in all those things — credit card payments, car payments. You're kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul," she said. "But still, providing that home life that was important to me. I held on as long as I could, but once it starts taking you under, you realize you're getting nowhere fast."
Cameron said she was most recently paying $4,800 in taxes — a $1,000 increase from three years ago.
In 2005, the city tax rate was $19.61. For 2008, the rate is $23.43.
"That's $400 a month in taxes alone," Cameron said.
She has also experienced the crunch of rising utility costs, with about $330 a month going to oil and $143 for electricity. She said she's always been on a budget plan but paying for those expenses on her own got harder and harder — and then impossible.
She tried to stay in Somersworth — where after more than 20 years in the city she had volunteered for nearly every organization and cause — but couldn't find an affordable place that would allow dogs.
And with all the changes she was going through in her life, there was no way she was moving without Dewey.
"Keeping the dog was stable," she said, laughing as she talked about how happy he is to see her when she comes home from work.
She also said she thought her sons were having trouble dealing with the possibility of giving Dewey away.
But it had been a real possibility for Cameron, just like having to move.
"You never dream of stuff like this," she said. "There's no relief out there. You can only refinance so many times. You can't do it on your own."
Today, her duplex in
"I cry a lot because I'm letting go of so much of myself in this community," she said. "You feel like an outsider because you don't live here. It's just a weird aspect of your life." Cameron boasts a long list of city activism, starting with being supervisor of the checklist for 15 years, a School Board member for eight years, high school class adviser, deacon at the
She also spearheaded the project to bring lights to the high school's football field and serves on the International Children's Festival board. "I've had quite a run," she said nostalgically. It's only been a week in her new place so she's expecting things will get easier down the road. Until then, she still has a lot to think about.
She said she doesn't think she'll see any real financial relief from her move for about a year. "I'm at a point now where I have to look for a second job," she said, wondering if juggling two jobs will be possible. She works as a department manager at the Wal-Mart in
She's not even sure she could find a second job right now.
Cameron's challenges don't end there. She's trying to put her son, Sean, 21, through college at
"I'd be damned if I wasn't going to let (Sean) go to college," she said. "I was going to get him those loans he needed. He works, he does what he should do to earn money while he's home."
She's expecting a lot of debt.
She's also expecting to owe money when tax season rears its head again in April because she's doing a short sale on her home. A short sale prevents foreclosure by allowing the home to sell for less than the outstanding balance of the loan and the bank to assume the proceeds. Still, Cameron will have to claim on her taxes the difference between the home's list price and what it sells for.
"I tried to redeem myself a little bit," she said. "It looks better with the bank if you try to work something out."
But, she added, there has to be some good that can come out of the situation.
"Everything happens for a reason," she said.
"Either you're going to go under, or you're going to pull yourself out," she said. "You've got to do what you've got to do. Trying to do it yourself is impossible these days and every time I come in here, I cry. But in a year or so, I'll see it wasn't so bad to do what I did. I still need a place to call home."
The Citizen Ocotber 29, 2008
By GAIL OBER
gober@citizen.com
As the national economy worsens, area economists and statisticians are keeping an eye on residential sales as an indicator of the overall health on
Countywide, recently released third quarter statistics show residential real estate sales in
According to information provided by the New Hampshire Association of Realtors indicated the number of sales dropped from 225 in the third quarter of 2007 to 177 in the third quarter for this year. On a positive note, the values of those third quarter
"There is some seasonality or certain sales that are associated with lakefront property in September," said New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority Housing Research Director Dan Smith who said the summer buying season generally ends in September, and he was not surprised that the overall values for Belknap County were higher than the rest of the state.
As to the number of sales, local economist Russ Thibeault of Applied Economic Research said he thinks many people are giving second thoughts to second-home purchases and he is not surprised to see the number of sales lower than last year even though value appears to be holding it own.
What concerns both Smith and Thibeault is the rising number of foreclosures.
Smith said the number foreclosures in the state could reach 3,500 — a 70 percent increase over last year. In
"Remember," said Smith. "There is a negative effect of foreclosure on property taxes."
He said when a property goes into foreclosure, somebody still owns it, so property taxes will be paid and are often recoverable from the next purchaser, but revenue streams can slow.
As to declining values, an overall declining value means a higher tax rate to maintain constant spending — as in the 9 cent jump in
Smith said he does not expect
The state, he said, has a much larger issue.
"When sales are off by 20 percent, as they have been the past three years, it represents a significant hit to the state for its revenue," said Smith.
WMUR recently reported the state's projected revenue for fiscal year 2009 could be as much as $250 million short. Gov. John Lynch has already trimmed $90 million from the state budget, but legislators may be forced to eliminate an additional $160 million in spending before June 2009.
Note from the MCA: As many towns in NH struggle with upcoming budgets and rising taxes, we are still awaiting here in Moultonboro even a discussion of what we are doing or should be doing to keep our tax burden as low as possible and reduce not increase spending. Fellow citizens, we need to ask our selectmen and school board what they are planning to do and when will the Advisory Budget Committee meet?
MCA
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
Sunday August 24th, 2008
As town and city officials begin putting together their budgets for next year, many face a Solomonic choice: Increase property taxes or cut services.And this year, with the economic downturn hitting folks hard in their personal budgets, some local officials say they'll choose the latter."It's very scary," said Fred Kelley, chairman of the board of selectmen in
John Andrews, executive director of the
|
By |
The Citizen Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The townwide revaluation is nearing its end as taxpayers will be able to have informal hearings and information will be available. On Monday, the town released a statement that the state-required townwide revaluation of Moultonborough is about to enter its final stages, Moultonborough announced that Vision Appraisal Technology will shortly be mailing out informational letters to property owners of the town's approximately 7,250 parcels of land. The letters will state the property assessed value of land and buildings as of April 1.
Informal hearings will be available to property owners to ask questions about their assessments. Property owners who would like an informal hearing to discuss the proposed values should call Vision Appraisal at 1-888-844-4300 from Monday, Aug. 11 through Friday, Aug. 29, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The last scheduled day for hearings is Sept. 2. Topics of discussion can include an explanation of valuation, information on the property record card and the market data used to determine the proposed value. The town stresses that the notices being mailed out are not tax bills and Vision will not be able to discuss or predict the actual amount of the tax bill that will result. Informal hearings will be by appointment only and will be held at the town hall. If a property owner will not be able to attend one of the five hearing days available during August and early September, they can submit evidence they would like considered to Vision Appraisal, c/o Assessor's Office,
