Burlington, too, battling reassessment woes

There was an interesting piecein the Burlington Free Press last week about a group of lakefront property owners in Burlington's New North End who are unhappy they were among 324 properties selected for a partial reappraisal of the city, intended as an "equalization measure," according to John Vickery, Burlington's city assessor.

City Assessor John Vickery said the “equalization measure” didn’t apply only to lakefront properties, but rather “properties that were the most inequitable in town.”

Ninety-four percent of Burlington’s properties, he said, are within 15 percent of the “level of appraisal,” meaning that extrapolating from sales figures, the prices buyers pay for most Burlington properties is no further than 15 percent away from the assessed valuation established during the 2005 citywide reappraisal.

Vickery said that prior to that reappraisal, sales had been slow and as a result many properties were “undervalued.” He said 324 properties across town, many of them lakefront, were checked during the current “adjustment.” The assessed value rose for 211 of the properties and declined for 113.

He said an additional 576 properties had their assessments changed “due primarily to marketable improvements to the property.”

Interesting, because it's not too far off what several members of Rutland City's Board of Aldermen recently said they'd like to see done here. Apparently not unlike Burlington, the aldermen believe there are certain neighborhoods in Rutland where the properties are undervalued and they'd like to see it addressed sooner rather than later, in part to bring up the city's tax base and revenues. Assessor Barry Keefe essentially told the board that picking certain neighborhoods or properties for review is "cherry picking" - which is not allowed by the state.

If you're going to undertake something like this, you have to be ready for the backlash, as Burlington is finding out. Most people are not going to be thrilled at the prospect of being among a small group to be reassessed - and assumably see their taxes rise - during an economic downtown (to put what's currently happening lightly.)

For those who've missed them, the aldermen had this conversation in both April and May.

Forgetting this bill can put a serious dent in your wallet...

Tomorrow, May 15, is the due date for fourth quarter city property tax bills.

The city treasurer’s office will remain open until 8 p.m. to accept payments.

Forgetting this bill carries a hefty price tag. In addition to the 5 percent late fee penalty assessed whenever a quarterly due date is missed, when you miss the fourth quarter tax payment you're automatically saddled with an additional 8 percent tax penalty. This is because it's the last tax collection of the year, and everything unpaid becomes delinquent as of May 16, according to Treasurer Wendy Wilton.

With each additional month that a bill remains delinquent, it is assessed an additional 1 percent in interest.

Wilton also reminds taxpayers mailing in their payments that the cost of postage increased from 42 to 44 cents this week.