Harrison appeals board tables abatement request over Island Pond assessment

Harrison, Maine — The appeals board that hears property assessment appeals for the town of Harrison on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, voted to table an abatement request from property owner Corinne “Connie” Allen over the assessed value of her year‑round home at 46 Island Pond Road.

Allen asked the board to reduce an assessed land value that she said results in an excess assessment of $115,600. The board voted to table the application for up to 30 days to allow the town’s assessing agent, represented in the hearing by Jessica West Tabor of Parker Appraisals, to re‑review the file, inspect the property and determine whether additional factors — including seasonal flooding on the parcel — affect valuation. Peter Coyne moved the motion to table and Alex (Alec) Coop seconded it; the board approved the motion by voice vote.

Allen told the board Island Pond is a small body of water with declining water quality and limited public access, and that only a handful of sales have occurred there in decades. She argued several of the sales Parker Appraisals used as comparables were not arm’s‑length transactions, were recorded as inheritances, were partly in a neighboring town, or were restricted by Maine’s tree‑growth program and therefore should not be used to set base land rates for Island Pond. “I am respectfully requesting an abatement of a $115,600 to bring my total assessment more in line with the actual value of property on Island [P]ond,” Allen said during her presentation.

Allen also identified apparent errors in the assessor’s comparison packet, including inconsistent frontage figures (200 feet listed in one table versus 125 feet in the valuation report) and a tabulated total assessment she said was listed as $197,800 but should read $315,600. She asked the board to consider two sales near the Waterford town line that she said better reflect local land values, and she urged the board to re‑examine the Island Pond base rates of $250,000 per waterfront developed acre and $125,000 per undeveloped acre used in the reassessment.

Jessica West Tabor, the assessing agent with Parker Appraisals, explained the appraisal methodology the vendor used. Tabor said the sales list was drawn from Maine Revenue Services transfer‑tax records and that some transactions cannot be used as comparables when they are classified under current‑use programs such as tree growth or when they are not arm’s‑length transfers. “We don’t ever ask a taxpayer to get an appraisal,” Tabor said, adding that the assessor’s office asks petitioners to provide data and that the company applies standard assessing practices — including a “base acre” for waterfront value, an excess‑frontage schedule and a multi‑year increase factor drawn from statewide sales patterns — when calculating waterfront land values.

Board members pressed both sides about specific items in the packet and about the pond market. Several members said they were troubled by the limited number of clearly valid sales on Island Pond and by the apparent discrepancies Allen pointed out in the submitted exhibits. One board member noted the town had granted Allen a 10% discount for the lot’s pie shape but asked whether that adjustment sufficiently addressed flooding and other usability constraints Allen described.

The board’s action is procedural: it does not change the assessment. The motion instructs the town’s assessor’s agent to review the assessment file, follow up on the flooding/runoff claim and related documentation, and to inspect the property; the review is to be completed and reported back to the board within 30 days. The board also noted that, under the hearing rules read at the start of the session, the board must issue a written decision within 60 days of the appeal unless the appellant agrees in writing to a further delay.

No final determination was reached at the July 23 hearing. The board will reconvene with any additional findings from the assessor’s agent before issuing a written decision.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to table the abatement appeal of Corinne “Connie” Allen (46 Island Pond Road, Tax Map 59, Lot 17) to allow further review by the assessing agent — Moved by Peter Coyne; seconded by Alex (Alec) Coop; outcome: tabled (voice vote).