Southwick assessor releases tax valuations for residential properties

SOUTHWICK — With this being a revaluation year, the town’s assessor has released the valuations of every residential property in town, and for those who believe their property value is too high, there is an abatement process that starts Jan. 2 allowing them to challenge it

“We’re pulling out all the stops to get it out,” said Assessor Randy Austin about the property valuations released on Nov. 20.

There are two documents with the valuations; one sorted by address and the other by property owner, he said.

The lists are available at the assessor’s office, on the town’s website, the Senior Center in Town Hall, the Public Library, and will be available for inspection until Dec. 1.

While the state only requires the list to be made public for five days, Austin decided to keep it publicly available for 12 days, including six business days, and for a total of 12 including weekends and holidays.

“I wanted to do 10, but at this point, timing is critical and we need enough time to get the bills out, so we are doing six business days and 12 total,” he said.

Austin went with the maximum allowed by the Department of Revenue, primarily because of what he discovered weeks after being appointed by the Select Board in September.

After a homeowner questioned why their property was valued so much higher than their neighbor’s, a similar-sized home on essentially the same lot size, Austin and his staff, directed by DOR, did a deep dive into the values of homes throughout town and found that many appeared to be undervalued.

He determined that after inspecting several properties on a certain street, the property card with the property’s details didn’t match the valuation.

The property cards indicated the houses on the street were in poor to fair condition, but after a visual inspection of each, they were “nowhere” near that, he said during the board’s meeting in early October.

That led Austin and his staff to dig deeper to learn if there were undervaluations for other homes and property in town.

“We found a lot of properties that had ratings below average … way more than you would think,” he said at the board meeting.

Of the 3,183 homes in town, the office reviewed 1,136 or about 36%.

Of those, 194 had a change of 5% or less; 480 had a change between 5-10%; 250 had a change of 10-15%; 179 had a change of 15-20%; 30 had a change between 20-25%; 33 had a change between 25-35%, and 17 between 35-54%.

Austin stressed that 81% of the 1,136 reviewed had a change of 15% or less.

Because of the number of undervaluations, Austin wanted residents to clearly understand the abatement process.

Starting on Jan. 1, the assessor’s office will begin accepting applications from property owners who want to challenge their valuation.

Those applications are in the assessor’s office, Senior Center and Public Library.

“If you don’t file for an abatement, I can’t address your concerns and can’t fix your tax bill [if the value needs to be adjusted],” he said.

To help residents with the process, Austin will be holding informational meetings during January. The dates have yet to be determined.

However, those who file for an abatement should be aware that there will be site visit to the property in question by Austin or another representative of his office, and it will include an examination of the exterior and interior of every structure on the property.

As an example of a situation that might lead to adjusting a valuation, he said that there is property with three sheds listed on the property card, but two of them collapsed and weren’t rebuilt. If the property owner didn’t alert the Assessors Office to let it know that new information, it could lead to a property being overvalued.

Austin also said that the quality of a structure’s construction is also part of the valuation process.

After a property owner applies for an abatement, the assessor’s office has 90 days to issue a ruling.

Each abatement must be approved by the Board of Assessors, he said.