NEWRY — Selectmen and Sophia Bilinsky have reached a tentative settlement in their four-year battle over the assessment on her Powder Ridge home.
As a result, the town likely will refund her $13,400 in taxes paid for 2011 and 2012, according to town officials.
Her 2012 tax bill was $25,527.
Town officials said Newry’s legal costs related to the case totaled about $8,000 for 2012 and $3,096 so far this year.
In 2009, the town assessed the 2007 home at $2.8 million. Bilinsky, however, claimed the home is worth only $1.7 million, and has appealed the assessment every year since then. Her requests for an abatement have been denied by the town, and those appealed to the Oxford County Board of Assessment Review and the Oxford County Superior Court have also been denied.
The town and Bilinsky have differed on issues, including the availability of information on construction costs of the home, square footage, depreciation and the grade (quality of finish).
In December, Superior Court Justice Robert W. Clifford upheld OCBAR’s denial of the 2010 abatement appeal. But he also left the door open to the possibility that the board could have found the assessment wrong, prompting uncertainty on the part of the selectmen about the strength of their case in future appeals.
Earlier this month, the 2011 abatement appeal went before the county board. According to selectmen, the board did not rule but instead asked the town to bring in an independent appraiser/assessor to evaluate the property.
That prompted a meeting last week between selectmen and Bilinsky’s lawyers, Jarrod Crockett of Bethel and Robert Crawford of Bernstein Shur in Portland. Newry’s assessing agent, Bob Gingras, also attended.
Crawford noted the county board’s request was unusual and Crockett said that three of the four board members wanted a new evaluation to focus on the home’s grade, which was assigned at 2.25, the highest in Newry.
Crawford suggested a plan to find and fund an independent appraiser “that you get to choose and we get to pay for it,” he said.
Gingras, however, was skeptical the town would be able to find an appraiser/assessor willing to do the job.
Selectman Brooks Morton thought selectmen should reconsider the 2011 assessment and find a compromise.
“I believe it’s time we find a resolution to this so that all of us can stop spending money fighting about it.”
Gingras said he stood by his assessment, but he would do as selectmen directed.
The group met again last Wednesday for more than an hour.
According to Selectmen Chairman Wendy Hanscom, after much discussion of options, the board voted to adjust the grade down to 1.95 for 2011 and beyond until the next town revaluation, so long as the owners agree not to challenge the assessment until the next revaluation, and submit a letter to OCBAR to withdraw their 2011 and 2012 appeal.
Hanscom said Bilinsky’s representatives later asked that the same offer be applied to any new construction on the property, and the board agreed.
When the agreement is finalized, Newry is expected to write Bilinsky a check for $13,400, the adjusted amount of the abatement for 2011 and 2012.
Hanscom said, “I do not believe that the town’s assessment of the property is inaccurate. However, though we have won two previous appeals, I do believe there is value in settling the matter until the next reval and using the town’s resources for something else.”
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