To the editor:
I am confused and wonder if someone would be kind enough to help me understand what is going on regarding Marblehead’s 2024 residential property assessments.
The only relevant information which I can find on the department’s website is the April 26, 2024 letter to John Kelley from James Doherty of JFD Property Services LLC and the July 5, 2024 background note from the Board of Assessors.
I was interested to learn from James Doherty’s letter that Marblehead utilizes 29 neighborhoods for residential properties and in fiscal year 2024 all but one had land values remain equal or increase. He points out that neighborhoods AE and AS had significant increases – AE went from $40.50 to $69 and AS from $44.50 to $61 but for some reason he failed to point out that neighborhood 19 — which happens to be waterfront — went from $150 to $195.
Mr. Doherty said that “the initial focus on adjusting the land values significantly not only created potential inequity amongst various neighborhoods but required nonsensical adjustments to building costs. This is clear from the fact that of the 21 residential building styles, 11 required adjustments and five had the building costs reduced. Cape and bungalow costs went down dramatically (Cape from $71 to $55 and bungalow from $56 to $31). Antique and colonial increased significantly (Antique from $100 to $135 and colonial from $95 to $124).
In explaining “the problem,” the Board of Assessors document says, “This year certain home types and neighborhoods saw dramatic and indefensible increases while others saw equally indefensible decreases. The Board of Assessors only became aware of the extent of the problem when taxpayers who saw significant increases complained and filed abatements. Those who received reductions did not complain and by the time the Board of Assessors became aware of the extent of the problem it was too late to make unilateral adjustments.”
This prompts a number of questions:
First, why on earth was the board unaware of the problem until the complaints started coming in?
What is the actual size of the problem? How many households were erroneously overcharged and how many undercharged? What unilateral adjustments would the board have undertaken if it could?
Given that more than 80% of those who requested abatements received them, we have to assume that more than 80% of the assessments were wrong. For those of us who stupidly failed to file an abatement by the end of January 2024, what can we do to ascertain whether our assessment was erroneous and what can we do rectify it and gain restitution?
For the record, my husband and I live in an antique style home (up from $100 to $135) in neighborhood C3, the historic district, where the price per square foot increased from $56 to $65. As a result, we have seen our assessment increase by $335,200.
Sincerely,
Vicki Staveacre
Franklin Street