Fairfield’s Board of Assessment Appeals on Feb. 20 set hearings and deliberation dates for the town’s upcoming revaluation, declined to hear commercial appeals with assessed value above $1,000,000, and called for more public communication about how the assessor’s office is building valuation models.

Board members set hearings for March 4 (10 a.m.–1 p.m.) and March 5 (4:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.) and planned deliberations beginning the evening of March 6 with an additional deliberation/meeting on March 12 to accommodate at least one appellant who could not attend the earlier sessions. The board discussed scheduling logistics for 24 current appeals (28 uploaded to the appeals page, minus three commercial appeals and one motor vehicle appeal), noting morning/night preferences from appellants: 11 requested morning hearings, 7 requested evening hearings, and 6 had not specified a preference.

Paulette moved that the board decline to hear appeals for commercial, industrial, utility or apartment property with an assessed value greater than $1,000,000; the motion carried. The board instructed the assessor’s office to notify the three appellants in that category that they may pursue their appeals in court.

Board members repeatedly said the assessor (Ross) was not present and that the board lacked current details from the assessor’s office about the revaluation process. Members urged the town to provide clearer public communications during the next 9–12 months so property owners can better understand the process — including posting the sales the assessor uses for modeling (the "qualified sales"), explanatory materials about the mill-rate uncertainty, and an example or calculator showing how a change in the grand list could affect mill rates. One member suggested the communications director or the assessor meet with the board to coordinate public outreach.

Members also discussed personal-property appeals and penalties for late filing. The board described the penalty as a 25% increase to assessed personal property value used for tax calculations (applied to the assessed value for the year in question), and noted some personal-property appellants may be quickly resolved by phone contact if the dispute concerns a late filing or a misunderstanding with an accountant.

Board members said they would ask the assessor’s office to prepare and deliver notices to appellants and to post appeals and schedules online. Staff were assigned to confirm appeal details for items numbered 26 and 28 and to assemble a hearing schedule that prioritizes personal-property cases in shorter time slots and allocates longer slots for real estate appeals.

No formal report on revaluation models or sales data was provided at the meeting because the assessor was absent.

Votes at a glance
- Board declined to hear commercial, industrial, utility or apartment appeals with assessed value greater than $1,000,000. Outcome: approved (motion by Paulette; tally not recorded on the roll call).