The Town of Needham Board of Assessors on Jan. 6 told residents the town's tax bills were mailed at the end of December and reiterated procedures and deadlines for filing abatements.

Board Chair John Bullion opened the meeting with a standard recording notice and said the session was convened to hear public questions following the recent mailing of tax bills. Assessor office staff reported the mailer confirmed delivery on Dec. 31 at 8:30 a.m., and the town website and the bills themselves list Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, as the abatement postmark deadline.

Assessors emphasized that an abatement filed with the board — using state Form 128 — is the formal route to challenge an assessment. Assessor staff said many calls to the office concern the dollar amount of taxes rather than valuation methodology, and that the office asks taxpayers who want relief to provide documentation such as comparable sales rather than a single-sentence objection. "The only way that they can really get anything done on their tax bill is to file an abatement and go through the board of assessors," assessor staff said.

Staff clarified that a supplemental guidance sheet added in fiscal 2024 (intended to help taxpayers identify comparable sales and supporting materials) exists but the board has not finalized how or whether that supplemental packet will be included with every abatement filing this year. The board asked staff to review the supplemental material and consider posting it on the assessor's web page so taxpayers know what evidence is most helpful.

The panel reiterated that postmark rules matter: a United States Postal Service postmark on or before Feb. 3 will preserve a taxpayer's right to have an application considered, while shipments by private carriers such as UPS or FedEx do not satisfy the postmark requirement. Staff noted that, because many taxpayers had not yet received bills at the time of the meeting, the office expects abatement filings to surge in the last 10 days before the deadline.

As of the Jan. 6 meeting the board had received no abatement applications. The board scheduled its next meeting for Jan. 27 and said that by then it expects a clearer sense of workload from incoming filings. The meeting also included brief updates that an Appellate Tax Board matter had been continued and that a small number of commercial and residential REAP-related cases remain pending.

The assessors encouraged taxpayers to review their property card online for data used in assessments and to contact the assessor's office for guidance on filing. The board adjourned after the updates.