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Selectmen authorize $110,000 revaluation contract with Whitney Consulting and waive bid for this cycle
Summary
The board authorized a mandatory five-year revaluation contract with Whitney Consulting (about $110,000) and agreed to waive competitive bidding for this revaluation cycle; the Department of Revenue Administration reviewed the contract with no recommendations.
The Alton Board of Selectmen authorized a $110,000 contract with Whitney Consulting on March 24 to perform the town's required five-year property revaluation and voted to waive the requirement for competitive bidding for this cycle.
Town staff and the assessing representative explained RSA 76:8-a (state statute requiring revaluation every five years) makes the revaluation mandatory; failure to revalue can trigger review by the Department of Revenue Administration and potential citation to the Board of Tax and Land Appeals. Staff said Whitney Consulting has provided cyclic assessing services for Alton since 2018 and completed the previous 2021 revaluation. The Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) provided a confirmation letter noting it had reviewed the recommendation and contract and did not recommend changes.
Board members asked about competitive bidding. Staff explained that because Whitney performed the town's pickup and cyclical work since 2018, switching vendors in the middle of an ongoing cycle would be inefficient; several selectmen said they preferred to plan a competitive bid process for the 2027 cyclical period after the 2026 revaluation is complete.
Motion and outcome: a motion to authorize signing the Whitney Consulting contract and to waive the town's competitive-bid requirement for this contract was made and seconded; the motion carried on a voice vote with all present voting in favor. The board noted that DRA review is part of the acceptance process and that staff will tee up a competitive process for the next multi-year cyclical contract (planned for late 2026/early 2027).
What remains: the contract must be presented to the DRA for final administrative review before formal acceptance; the revaluation schedule will deliver new values in time for the board to accept updated values by November 1, 2026, per the timetable staff described.
The board did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; the motion was recorded as carried by voice vote (all in favor).
