By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
Due to the declining ration between assessed value and what properties are selling for and the length of time since some of the city have been reviewed, the board of assessors have requested the city proceed to a citywide revaluation. Members of the Caribou City Council voted to go ahead with this endeavor.
Maine law requires “all taxes shall be apportioned and assessed equally.” Revaluation is a process which creates a solid base of inventory for tax purposes in order to equally and equitably distribute the tax burden.
The firm of RJD Appraisals of Pittsfield has been hired to complete the city’s revaluation. The first step in this process is for the property appraisers from that firm to visit each property within the city to collect and verify building data such as age, dimension, quality of construction and physical depreciation that may have taken place over time. Kevin McCormick, Justin McMann and Joe Salley are the property appraisers from RJD Appraisals who will be doing the property inspections.
Beth O’Bar, Caribou city tax assessor stated, “Even if nothing has been done to a property it is important that the appraisers be able to do their inspections so that they can make sure all information on the assessment record is correct and current. “
“You do have the right to deny entrance,” said O’Bar, “but if so they will have to make assumptions as to the quality of the interior. Again, if they can’t go in, they can’t determine physical deterioration. The more information that is available to them during this phase of the process the more fair and equalized the assessments will be.”
“This part of the process is really about what’s out there and the condition of properties,” O’Bar added. “We do have fairly good records — but Caribou is a large community. Once this phase is done one thing the appraisers will be doing is looking at all sales that have taken place over a period of three years — those sales which have occurred locally within Caribou which will create pricing schedules. As a result of the pricing schedules, all properties will have assessed value for tax properties based on current construction costs and local market sales.”
Approximately sometime in the winter of 2011/spring of 2012, when the project is nearly completed and new values have been determined, notices will be sent to owners of each property, including an estimated tax amount for 2012, depending on whether or not the city budget has passed. The actual mil rate is not determined until the budget has been approved, which historically takes place in June.
In the notice which property owners will receive, O’Bar stated, “they will be given the opportunity to contact the city office to set up an appointment to meet with the appraisers who will return to this area for these meetings.”
This information will reflect the status of property effective April 1, 2012.
The city officials want property owners to understand that during this first phase should there only be a child or babysitter at a property, the appraisers do not have to be allowed inside. They may inspect the outside, make notes on a card which will include the date, time and map lot number which will be left at the location requesting owners to call the tax assessor’s office to set up a time for interior inspection.
During this phase of revaluation, which began last week, appraisers may ask questions such as if anything has been removed or torn down (i.e. garage, deck, etc.) or added to the property since the last assessment.
O’Bar also stated that one of the things which will happen, since this revaluation is such a long, involved process, is that building permits or those already requested will cross over for the 2011 tax year, and that she will be inspecting this type of building in the normal fashion, as well as the appraisers in some cases. This includes new structures, new building permits as well as ongoing building permits.
“Until the process if final and the notices go out, we won’t have any new pricing or values on anything,” said O’Bar, “One of the final phases of the revaluation process is that once a market analysis is completed then pricing schedules are develop resulting in the notices going out to property owners.”
O’Bar can be reached at 493-3324.
