Real Estate Property Taxes and Paul Revere Village

Remember getting that awful tax bill? When our taxes escalated so sharply in 2003, did it make you wonder how our complex was being assessed compared to the rest of the town? How condominiums were being compared to single family homes? It was certainly a hot topic of conversation! It made me curious enough to do some research on the issue.  In digested form with details at the bottom, here is what I found out.

Taxes in the town of Millbury actually decreased from $19.16 to $15.00 per thousand, but the assessed value of Millbury residential properties has increased dramatically. A sample property’s assessed value in PRVA went from $76,000 to $135,500 in one year.

There were 3,263 single family residences in the town of Millbury in 2002. The average assessed value for the whole town in 2002 was $126,283. At that time, the average assessed value in PRV was $76,000. Today, our units are worth $200,000, but they're assessed for $130,000 - $135,000 (depending on whether or not you have a finished basement)

Therefore, the reason that our property taxes doubled from 2002 to 2003 was that the assessed value was brought more in line with the rest of the town’s assessed values. We realize that the market value of our units have doubled in the last 4 years, so it should come as no surprise that the assessed value would also rise. Thankfully, the town is not set at fair market value assessments.

Ever consider appealing your taxes? Not an easy task. Here is what you would need to prove and the steps you would need to take.

Timing is critical. You have 6 months at the outside from receipt of your real estate tax bill to appeal.

Assessors act within three months on an application for abatement. A taxpayer may only file an appeal with the ATB (Appeal Board) within three months of the date of the assessors’ action. See GL c. 59, §§ 64, 65. Note the notice of action the assessors send generally has two dates on it: the date of action and the date the notice is mailed. An appeal may only be filed within three months after the date of action, not the date of mailing.

If the assessors take no action on the application within three months, a taxpayer may file an appeal with the ATB within three months after the date the application is deemed denied by operation of law. As explained above, the application is deemed denied three months after it is filed with the assessors. Put another way, if the assessors fail to act on an application, a taxpayer has six months from the date of filing an application for abatement with the assessors to file an appeal with the ATB. See GL c. 58A, § 6; GL c. 59, § 64.

You would need to prove…  that the assessed value of your property is too high. You would need to show that if you sold your property, the fair market value would be lower than what the town assessed your property at.

This actually was the case during the sewer crisis that happened at PRV. During that period of time (1990-1991), property values lowered so dramatically that the assessed value the town placed on them was often too high. Some PRV owners did receive rebates on their taxes during that time period. Many people owed more on their units than they could sell them for. A number of them moved out and began renting their units during that time.

What do the assessors need to prove? Nothing... Because the assessment is presumed by law to be valid, taxpayers bear the burden of proving that their property is overvalued. The assessors may therefore decide to “rest on the assessment” and not present any evidence in support of their assessed value. If the ATB decides that the taxpayer’s evidence fails to prove that the assessed value of the property exceeds the property’s fair market value, the ATB will issue a decision in favor of the assessors even if the assessors did not produce any evidence at the hearing. The assessors may, of course, choose to offer testimony and evidence to support their opinion that the assessed value of the property represents the property’s fair market value.

How does a person prove his case? By researching sales of comparable properties. Recent sales of nearby, similar properties generally provide a good indication of the market value of the subject property.

So, although our tax rates jumped, they are not disproportional from the rest of the town. And, since our property value have also increased significantly, I guess we can't complain too much. author: Michelle Fontaine Permission Guidelines

The Details

Tax facts about Millbury

According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, our tax rate in Fiscal 2002 was $19.16

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Therefore, average assessed value in 2002 was (412,063,200 / 3263) $126,283 at a tax rate of $19.12 = $2414 per household.

Mass Stats web site offers this:
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Millbury residential values (in thousands) – note: these are not assessed values

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