T&G - Half of tax-cut requests granted

By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER —  Roughly 46 percent of the real estate abatement applications filed for last fiscal year ended up being approved by city assessors.

According to City Assessor William J. Ford, 1,112 of the 2,395 abatement applications were granted and processed. That is the most since 2009, when 844 abatement requests, or roughly 47 percent of the applications filed, were approved.

He said the abatements totaled a little more than $3 million, which is about what the city had set aside to fund abatements and exemptions.

In comparison, 1,283 abatement applications were denied, he said.

Mr. Ford said city assessors were able to review within the three-month deadline set by state law all the abatement applications it received. In addition, the majorities of those properties were inspected, unless the homeowners refused the inspection or did not respond to the request.

He said his office had received additional abatement applications after the filing deadline in June, but state law prohibits review of those properties.

But the completion of the city’s review process does not mean the end of the appeal process.

Mr. Ford said property owners who are dissatisfied with the valuation determinations of the city’s Assessing Division have 90 days to file with the state Appellate Tax Board.

He said those commercial property owners who did not respond to the Section 38D Income and Expense requests as part of their abatement application with the city are not entitled to receive a review by the Appellate Tax Board.

The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board is a quasi-judicial state agency designed to conduct hearings and render decisions on appeals of all types of state and local taxes, including property tax (both real estate and personal property), corporate excise, individual income tax, sale and use tax, and automobile and other excise taxes.

The most frequent type of appeal filed with the Appellate Tax Board is real estate tax appeals.

The filing fee to have a case heard by the Appellate Tax Board is based on the assessed valuation of the property.

If the assessed value is $20,000 or less, the filing fee is $10. If the assessed value is more than $20,000 and not in excess of $100,000, the filing fee is $50.

If the assessed value is more than $100,000 and not in excess of $999,999, the filing fee is $100.

Meanwhile, if the assessed valuation is $1 million or more, the filing fee is 10 cents per $1,000 of the assessed value, with a maximum filing fee of $5,000.

According to the Appellate Tax Board, taxpayers who claim their assessed property valuation is too high should be prepared to show that the fair market value of their property for last fiscal year is lower than the assessed value.

Because the assessed value of properties assigned by assessors is presumed by law to be valid, taxpayers bear the burden of proving that their property is overvalued.

In anticipation of increases in Appellate Tax Board cases, the City Council recently authorized the city manager to bolster the staffing in the city’s Law Department by adding a part-time assistant city solicitor position.

City Solicitor David M. Moore said the new position will be restricted to Appellate Tax Board cases.

He said given the expected volume of those cases, covering both commercial and residential property valuations, he felt it was best to obtain in-house expertise to reduce the potential expense of outside counsel.