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Shaftsbury Approves Fixes to Tax Map, Complete Reappraisal

Posted: September 11, 2024

SHAFTSBURY - The town will be getting some problems fixed with its tax maps, and preparations for a complete reappraisal of the town are underway.

Assessor Clerk Gina Jenks gave a presentation on both issues to the Select Board at its meeting on Monday. The board voted 4-0 to authorize mapping firm CAI Technologies, headquartered in Littleton, New Hampshire, to correct problems with the town's tax map in seven sectors of town where problems have been found.

The board authorized expending $14,200 from the reappraisal fund to fix the problem areas.

"Reappraisal will cover any kind of mapping," Jenks said. "If we needed to get the whole town done, that would have been way over $120,000 to remap Shaftsbury."

She showed the board an example of where a yellow line on the map ran though a barn and another where a line cut through a house.

"I went through, and I wrote down all the ones that I could find. And it's mostly by the New York border and where the villages are for the most part," she said. "There's a few out on the other ends (of town), but it doesn't really chop up people's houses."

Town Administrator, Paula Iken was part of a group of town officials that met with the mapping firm.

"What I learned in that meeting is that it's not just Shaftsbury. It seems like it's pretty much everywhere, because over the decades, the maps went from paper, and then as computers came along, the different technologies were kind of layered upon layer upon layer. And (with) those layers of technology and computer programs, everything kind of shifted, and it couldn't really be rectified," she said. "So now most of the towns are skewed. So it's not specifically Shaftsbury, it's like hard to find a town that isn't."

The seven zones being examined contain much of the town's population, and the firm will fix all mapping problems in these zones.

When things slow down, maybe in January, Jenks might have time to look at the map again and find other problems - or some more problems might be brought to her attention.

"People will call me and tell me what the issues are and what they see - and that's how we know to look for these things," she said. So, it's always welcomed, any information. Can't promise we can fix it, but we'll try."

In a related matter, the town has contracted with the New England Municipal Resource Center (NEMRC) to complete a reappraisal of all property in Shaftsbury for the 2026 Grand List. The state has ordered the town to be reappraised.

Jenks said preparatory computer work is being done and postcards to residents have been made up. The postcards will not be sent out in a mass mailing, but road by road as the appraisers proceed with their work.

"The owners will be receiving this postcard, so don't throw it out, because if you want to set up an appointment, then call me, because otherwise they're going road by road and they're just going to show up," Jenks said.

"It's best if they can have entry into the house," she said. "You do not have to let them be in your house, but if they are not allowed entrance into the house, then they have to basically go off of their knowledge of what they think is there, and then there might be information that's wrong."

Because there hasn't been an appraisal since 2010, everyone's appraisal will go up significantly. In towns that haven't done a reappraisal in a long time, they are going up 30 to 60 percent, she said.

"It doesn't mean your taxes are going up 60 percent if your value goes up 60 percent," Jenks said. "But we don't control the school budget."

Whether anyone is home or not, each property will receive a card in the form of a door hanger with a personal code on it. This can be used to access a portal which will be put on the town website with both general information and property-specific information.

"That is going to give you access to everything... frequently asked questions, time schedule, what roads they're on, what roads they've already done, what roads they plan on doing," Jenks said. "And then with that personal code you have, after about two weeks since they've been to your property, you enter that in, and it will tell you what (information) they have for your property."

Compliments of: The Bennington Banner
Posted/Author: Mark Rondeau

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