August 6, 2020 | Town Admin COMMERFORD NIEDER PERKINS, LLC APPRAISAL AND ASSESSMENT SERVICES News Release Town of Sutton 2020 Full Statistical Revaluation The Town of Sutton has contracted with the assessing firm of Commerford Nieder Perkins, LLC to perform a Full Statistical Revaluation of property for the Town of Sutton in 2020. Beginning the first week of August the assessing staff will be visiting all of properties in Town that have sold since April 1, 2018. The assessors will adhere to the following guidelines during the Revaluation process: The assessing staff will visit the sale properties and will be wearing identification and have the current property record card with them. Because of the current COVID-19 guidelines set by the State and the CDC, interior inspections will not be performed. They will however, do the inspection if both parties are comfortable with doing so. A mask can be worn by the assessing staff if needed. They will be looking for information such as the following: quality of construction, year built, functional utility, condition, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, type of floors, type of interior walls, and type of heat. The assessing staff will then measure the exterior of the buildings. The assessor staff may also collect the information by asking questions of the homeowner regarding the sale information. If the homeowner has information about the property that may not be apparent to the appraiser, such as seasonally wet basements, cracks in foundations, and leaking roofs, they are encouraged to bring that type of information to the appraiser’s attention. After the interior inspection is complete, if applicable, the appraiser will measure all buildings on the property. All information collected that needs to be corrected will be entered into the Town’s CAMA software each year. In most cases, the total time for an interior inspection should not exceed 10 minutes, if the inspection is performed. No property will be entered unless there is someone at least 18 years of age at home at the time of the visit. It is very important that the appraisers be allowed inside to help ensure an accurate assessment, but again during the COVID19 State of Emergency the assessor will not do so unless agreed upon by both parties. If the homeowner is not home, the appraiser will leave a notice stating that they visited the property and measured the buildings, and also indicate that the homeowner may receive a letter in the future, to request them to call and provide information about the property. Completing the Revaluation Process When all field visits are complete, the Assessor Supervisor will set values based on these recent sale properties and the sales analysis. In October, taxpayers will be notified by letter of their new value(s), and lists of all values will be posted around town. After values have been set taxpayers are encouraged to schedule a phone appointment with the appraisers to discuss their values. The dates, times and places of these appointments will be included in the notification letter. When the informal review process is complete, values will be finalized and given to the town. Subsequent tax bills will be based on these new values and a new tax rate. When the final tax bill is received by a taxpayer, and the taxpayer disagrees with their new value, they may appeal, by an abatement request, to the Selectmen, on or before March 1st of the following year.