The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) has awarded a $7,500 grant to the town of Aquinnah to study the possibility of regionalizing property assessing on Martha’s Vineyard. The grant was augmented by $5,000 from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, which tapped the DOR Massachusetts Direct Local Technical Assistance program.
“The state passed a ‘best practices’ program where municipalities seek grants in order to better the way they run their operations,” outgoing Aquinnah town administrator Adam Wilson told The Times on Friday. “I drew up a scope of work, working in conjunction with [MVC executive director] Adam Turner, and it was accepted by the DOR.”
The ball got rolling when Mr. Wilson spoke with DOR officials about a report they wrote 10 years ago, which concluded the town of Aquinnah, and the entire Island, could benefit from doing property assessing on a regional basis.
The grants will pay for a consultant to determine if a regional assessing department, comprised of several on-Island professional assessors, administrative assistants, and an advisory board, will more cost-effectively, and more uniformly, serve the Island.
“We have six professional assessors, all supervised by elected boards,” Mr. Wilson said. “The combined salaries has to be at least a half million dollars. The concept of regionalization on this Island keeps getting talked about, but not many people feel it can ever be done. I decided since I’m about to come onboard the Aquinnah board of assessors, it’s a perfect opportunity to look at the overall structure of assessing. It’s a fascinating thing to look at: How does one town place values, compared to another? Is there a way it could all be done the same?”
Mr. Wilson was elected to the Aquinnah board of assessors in May, ousting longtime incumbent Michael Stutz by a vote of 75-57. It was the only contested race on the town election ballot. State law prohibits a town administrator from holding an elected position.
Mr. Wilson filed a letter with the town clerk setting July 6 as his last day in the town’s top job. Mr. Stutz said he was disappointed by the election outcome. He told The Times assessors “stepped on a lot of toes” in setting fair and equal tax evaluations in town, which he thinks played a role in his losing to Mr. Wilson.
Revaluation re-evaluated
The triennial revaluation process will also be scrutinized in the study.
“It’s my understanding that the towns have been engaged for many years in doing three-year [revaluations], and when they put out RFPs, the only company that responds is Vision Appraisal,” Mr. Wilson said. Vision Appraisal is based in Northborough.
“That means one company comes in, does the [revaluations] for every town on the Island, and accrues half a million dollars in fees.”
Mr. Wilson said he will look to Mr. Turner for guidance in finding the proper consultant for the job.
“The MVC is committed to bolstering regionalization on Martha’s Vineyard,” Mr. Turner said. “A study like this is the only way we’ll find out if it makes sense in the area of assessing.”
Mr. Turner gave kudos to Governor Baker and in particular, Sean Cronin, DOR senior deputy commissioner of local services, for the funding. “Sean was essential in creating this opportunity for us,” he said.
