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Blackstone assessors nearly finish townwide field review, urge residents to check property records
Summary
The Town of Blackstone Board of Assessors said its field review of residential parcels is nearly complete and urged homeowners to check online field cards for errors that could affect taxes or insurance. Officials expect roughly 300 parcels remain for inspection.
The Town of Blackstone Board of Assessors was told Oct. 10 that a townwide field review of residential properties is nearly finished and that residents should review their public field cards for accuracy.
Marcus Milano, speaking for assessor staff, said the office and contractor RRG have driven every street in town, examined property cards and are correcting inconsistent data so values can be set more uniformly. “We are nearly finished with our field review,” Milano said, adding the team is finalizing roughly “300 or so” parcels next week. "We're creating our uniformity in our data that will allow us to evenly and fairly and equitably determine tax rates and base rates and values for these properties," he said.
Milano told the board that residents who see discrepancies should wait two to three weeks for data-entry work to appear online and then contact the assessor’s office if they still see errors. "If you don't know where to find your field cards… go to the assessor's website. You can call us. You can come to see me. We're always happy to provide access to those tools," Milano said.
Board members cautioned that incorrect field-card entries can have downstream effects beyond taxes. An unidentified assessor’s office speaker warned that automated valuation modules (AVMs) are commonly used in valuations and appraisal referrals: "About 80% of what we do is… these AVMs," the speaker said, and inaccurate public records could affect mortgage or insurance outcomes.
The board advised homeowners to verify bedroom, bathroom and other basic details on their field cards so assessments and any automated valuations reflect actual property characteristics. The office said the field review has involved a substantial backlog cleanup and that corrected records are public.
Next steps: assessors will finish the remaining inspections, complete data entry, and make corrected field cards available online; residents were asked to report discrepancies to the assessor’s office for review.
