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Gardner Board of Assessors reviews completed map updates, plans second notices for income and expense forms and moves to executive session
Summary
At a March 2025 meeting, the Gardner Board of Assessors heard that 2024-based map updates are complete and that staff will mail second notices for nearly 600 income and expense forms after a low initial return; the board also moved into executive session under Massachusetts law.
The Gardner Board of Assessors met in March 2025 at City Hall and heard an assessor update saying map updates based on calendar-year 2024 recordings are complete, and that staff will mail second notices for income and expense forms after a low initial response. The board also moved into executive session under Massachusetts law early in the meeting.
The assessor, identified in the meeting as Assessor, Board of Assessors, said, “As of today, the map updates are done,” and that the updated files have been sent to the city’s new GIS coordinator at the Department of Public Works. The assessor said the updates are based on plans recorded through the registry of deeds for calendar 2024 and that the GIS coordinator’s initial feedback showed no problems.
On income and expense forms, the assessor said the office initially mailed almost 600 forms and had received about 60 back; staff will send a second mailing and expects improved returns. “So, yeah, I’m gonna be mailing quite a lot again,” the assessor said. The assessor said in other communities that adopt fines for noncompliance, penalties have been attached to tax bills, but that Gardner has not adopted such fines.
The assessor also described plans for supplemental property tax bills following the map updates and new-construction entries. She said the office typically sends a courtesy letter in advance so property owners are not surprised by a supplemental bill and aims to mail the notices the week after the meeting and process bills roughly a month later.
Early in the meeting the board discussed entering executive session “under general laws 30 A 21 A 7” (cited in the meeting). The chair stated the motion and the board then proceeded to executive session; the transcript records a brief exchange in which a member said they would remove a motion and another member said they would accept and second, after which the chair said the board was in executive session.
Votes and formal actions in the transcript were limited. A member moved to accept the Feb. 20, 2025 meeting minutes and another member seconded the motion; the transcript records the motion and second and then proceeds to the next agenda item without a recorded roll-call vote. The transcript shows the board then moved into executive session under Massachusetts General Laws c.30A, §21(a)(7), with no roll-call vote recorded in the provided text.
The meeting included few speakers and brief discussion focused on operational matters for the assessor’s office rather than new policy decisions. The assessor’s plan to send courtesy notices before supplemental bills and to mail a second round of income and expense notices are the primary next steps recorded in the meeting.
