PARIS – A “full-blown” townwide revaluation begins Sept. 2, involving inspections of all residential and commercial real estate in town.
Six part-time data collectors and the town’s new assessor, Kevin McGillicuddy, will make a quick inspection of the interior of all properties and will measure and photograph the outside of all buildings on a piece of property, McGillicuddy said Monday.
“This is a full-blown revaluation,” he said. “You’re looking at every house, and every structure on the land, every nook and cranny, if you will.”
Selectmen are having their properties inspected this week so they’ll be able to answer questions about the process and the need for the data collector to enter a person’s home, McGillicuddy said.
“It is in their best interest to let data collectors in their house. We need answers that are as accurate as possible to ensure a more just value on all properties.”
It’s been well over 20 years since the last formal revaluation was done, he said. An equalization of properties was done in 1987, but “property assessments, for the most part, have not risen since the last equalization,” McGillicuddy said. “This process will enable the town to assess property at a fair and equitable value.”
Current assessments of the town’s more than 2,700 properties are running, on average, at 70 to 75 percent of market value, he said. The revaluation, which could take two years to complete, will bring property assessments in line with current market values, he said.
After the revaluation is complete, the work won’t be over, he said. Once the new assessments are sent out, taxpayers can come in and discuss them with him. And each year thereafter, McGillicuddy will review 25 percent of the town’s assessments to make sure values are still in line with the market, he said.
McGillicuddy said even though Paris doesn’t have premium shorefront real estate, it does have some pricey neighborhoods, the best known of which is Paris Hill.
“There’s a good possibility there will be residents here that are going to be hit by sticker shock after the revaluation,” he said. Some properties may remain the same, and still others may go down, he added. It’s expected there’ll be a drop in the town’s current tax rate of $23.27 per $1,000 of valuation, provided that town’s value increases significantly and school and town spending don’t make a substantial jump, he said.
McGillicuddy looks at recent construction costs to determine a replacement cost, and makes allowances for depreciation. He also does a sales comparison, and for commercial properties, he looks at income comparisons.
The town will use the TRIO computer software program to track the new assessments, and will keep measurements and photos on a CD-Rom disk. The town already uses the TRIO municipal software package for its budgeting and payroll needs.
McGillicuddy, 53, as an independent contractor, performed the recent revaluation in West Paris, and has performed revaluations in Bath, Yarmouth and Phippsburg, among other towns. He has 11 years experience and is certified by the Bureau of Revenue Services, for which he also teaches courses in the process of conducting a revaluation.
He began working full time as the assessor for the town of Paris on July 26, for a salary of $39,000 a year, after selectmen gave up their roles as town assessors at this year’s town meeting. Previously, the town used assessor agents, or outside professional assessors, to help them with the assessing work.
Anyone with questions about the process should phone McGillicuddy at 739-2522.
ggeraghty@sunjournal.com
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