Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Property Tax Assessment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Assessors approve $600,500 abatement, lowering Sandville Estates value to $2.5 million
Summary
The Board of Assessors granted a taxpayer abatement for Sandville Estates (Mickland Development Inc.), reducing the assessed value from about $3.1 million to $2.5 million after review of competing appraisals and cost estimates.
The South Berwick Board of Assessors voted 4-0 on May 21 to grant an abatement that reduces the assessed value of Sandville Estates (Mickland Development Incorporated) from approximately $3,100,500 to $2,500,000.
The action followed an in-depth review by assessing staff of an appraisal submitted with the abatement petition and supplemental materials from the taxpayer's attorney, Michael Skolnick. Assessing staff said the appraisal submitted by the taxpayer valued the subdivision at $870,000; staff’s review used sales-comparison and a discounted-cash-flow analysis and arrived at a recommended assessed value of $2,500,000.
Assessing staff outlined several areas of disagreement with the taxpayer’s appraisal: duplicated and unusually high development expense estimates (for example, quarterly bookkeeping and large quarterly legal/engineering charges), use of sales that staff judged not to be arm's-length or not comparable, and a road-cost estimate higher than local contractor quotes. Staff also said litigation over a planning condition (referred to in the applicant materials as “condition 6”) reflected the owner’s choice to sue rather than an inherent reduction in the land’s market value. “It was the owner's intention. It was the owner's decision to sue the town over condition 6,” the assessor said during the presentation.
The assessor said the sales-comparison approach produced an indicated per-lot value near $70,000 and led to the $2,450,000 figure; after adjusting the road-cost inputs and removing real-estate taxes from expenses, staff recommended $2,500,000. The board motion reduced the assessed value by $600,500, to $2,500,000; the motion passed on a 4-0 voice vote.
The assessor noted the use of a statutory information request (referred to in meeting materials as a "706a" letter) and the taxpayer's response were part of the record. Attorney Michael Skolnick appeared at the meeting as counsel for the applicant.
The board’s action changes the assessment used for property tax purposes; neither the assessment review nor the abatement outcome alters any pending planning litigation referenced during the discussion. The meeting record identifies the abatement file as a2002a2025-7013-100-000.
The board indicated that the written analysis and the appraisal packet will remain in the municipal record for anyone seeking more detail on the comparables and expense adjustments.
