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Needham assessors discuss abatement strategy and send cases to executive session amid ATB backlog
Summary
Board members described a pattern in which attorneys file abatements with little documentation, the board typically denies them, and cases move to the Appellate Tax Board; the board voted to enter executive session to discuss supplemental information and possible settlements on commercial abatement cases.
At their Nov. 20 meeting, the Town of Needham’s Board of Assessors spent substantial time on abatement filings and appeals to the Appellate Tax Board (ATB). Chair John Bullion and staff member Julie described a caseload of roughly 80 ATB-related matters, including about 50 active commercial cases, and said the office is preparing for a busy hearing schedule in December.
Unidentified Speaker 2 characterized a common legal strategy in commercial abatement filings: "they file the abatement with virtually no information whatsoever. Don't give their own valuation. They don't say anything…
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