Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Lawyer's letters question Vision's qualification
I have copies of the letters the attorney for Barrington for Equitable Taxes sent to the town regarding the reval. In a nutshell, the letters say Vision Appraisal broke state law because it didn't have any appraisers certified in Rhode Island working for them when they conducted the reval, and it also says Vision violated the contract with the town. William Landry, the attorney for BET, does a better job explaining it. See for yourself — March 26 letter, April 2 letter.
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So Mr. Minardi claims that what Vision did was not an "appraisal"? Even though their very name is "Vision Appraisal"? If it's not an "appraisal," I guess it must follow that 2009 taxes cannot be based on their assessed values?? Hasn't it struck Mr. Minardi and our esteemed Town Council that it is nothing short of absurd to take the position that an appraiser who values an individual property must be licensed, but that someone who values the whole Town does not need to be? The most pathetic aspect of this whole fiasco is Ms. Weymouth's pandering for re-election votes, instead of upholding the law. What a disgraceful civics lesson. The courts will set aside the entire process (forget about flaws in individual assessments) and the Town's bond rating will get clobbered. Our esteemed Council that closed their eyes, ears and brains will cost the Town millions of dollars, just so that they can try to "protect" the Tax Assessor and buy votes for themselves in the next election, by proclaiming that they stood up to a supposed minority opposition. What a bunch!! Out of curiosity, what happened to THEIR assessed values, and if they personally benefitted from Vision's ridiculous conclusions, is there an ethics issue lurking there? Our esteemed Council has given a whole new meaning to the word inept.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is that even with "perfect" revaluations only new owners ever receive a fair tax bill. How is it "fair" for the owner of a million dollar home to get a tax reduction if the fair market value decreases, while the owner of a modest home whose value legitimately increases must pay taxes that increase more than the tax levy?
ReplyDeleteIf the valuations are off the problem is even worse.