===PAGE 1=== LUNENBURG BOARD OF ASSESSORS WEDNESDAY , JANUARY 29, 2024 BILOTTA ROOM, LUNENBURG TOWN HALL 17 MAIN STREET Present Members: Chair Brian Laffond, Vice Chair Sarah Cammer, Clerk John Rabbitt, Interim Principal Assessor Rena Swezey. CALL TO ORDER The meeting opened at 6:30 PM. OPENING COMMENTS  Board There was no board comment.  Public There was no public comment. STATUS REPORT FROM INTERIM PRINCIPAL ASSESSOR Rena Swezey sat in on an interview for a temporary position of office assistant. This applicant was only able to work part time. The position is still open. Rena Swezey entered in all the sales and new construction into Vision. The Chapter liens for 2024 were completed and uploaded. An inspector from Vision came by the office and picked up14 property cards which had errors in the sketches. After taking measurements the sketches were completed and the information was passed on to Rena Swezey to enter into Vision. The Town report for fiscal 2023 needs to be submitted by February 15. Rena Swezey states that numbers will be the same as last year because the previous assessor didn’t realize that the town reports are done by fiscal year and not calendar year. There needs to be a note added to the town report with this explanation. The tax collector, Myleen Mallari, worked with Rena Swezey to collect all motor vehicle abatements that now just need to be added to MUNIS. Rena Swezey received a new composite zoning map from CAI. This will be displayed in the assessor’s office for public viewing. CAI is working on creating a neighborhood map with Nate Cramer. The board signed 66 exemptions for veterans, 5 exemptions for blind, 13 exemptions for veterans which were total tax abatements, and 19 exemptions for seniors. CURRENT BUSINESS ===PAGE 2===  Approve Minutes of: December 18, 2023, January 08, 2024, January 22, 2024 The minutes for December 18th were approved at a prior meeting on January 8th. The January 8th meeting had breaks in the audio and minor corrections. Approval postponed until a future meeting. The meeting for January 22nd was tabled to the next meeting for the Board to review. There was a motion to approve the amended minutes from the executive session on January 22 by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.  Review and Approve Invoices, Expense V ouchers, Payroll, Billing Errors, etc. There was no business to discuss related to the above topics.  Recommend Overlay and New Growth estimates for FY 2025 Brian Laffond spoke to the Town Manger about an overlay for FY 2025. The overlay from last year was paid through an increase at the annual Town Meeting. Currently, the account has $562,000. The Town Manager is suggesting to kept $120,000 as typically done in the past. That $120,000 will be for this year’s abatement and what doesn’t get spent goes into the fund for next year. Brian Laffond also suggests using the $120,000 for this year’s exemptions/abatements. Rena Swezey states that when she was on the board it was always $116,000. Sarah Cammer hasn’t seen all of Visions work yet and doesn’t feel comfortable making the decision without seeing the work. John Rabbitt suggests pulling data from the past 5 years and is tasked with this project. The new growth estimates were already discussed and previously voted on.  Review Draft of Assessors Report for Annual Town Report Sarah Cammer saw the corrections that Brian Laffond made and had nothing additional to add.  Discuss status of 5 Year Revaluation Rena spoke to Mike Tarello and there were 14 properties that had sketches that needed to be redrawn. Once those are completed, he can finish up all residential property. Currently Mike Tarello and Vision are working on commercial property. Without having reviewed the residential data the Board is unaware of the context to view the other data. Sarah Cammer requests having a whole picture presented prior to voting. John Rabbitt requests a neighborhood map.  Discuss Impact of changing Exemption amount for FY2025 (Seniors / Blind / Veterans) ===PAGE 3=== Sarah Cammer inquires if you go above the recommendation if a lower percentage will be returned. Rena Swezey suggests recommending a double in all exemption amounts at the spring town meeting. An additional discussion was tabled until the Board can review the numbers.  Status of Community Outreach: Web Site, How to Read Your Vision Card, Senior Center, etc. Sarah Cammer requests not having her photo on the website. John Rabbitt suggests having more visuals on the website. There was discussion about the charter statement and Sarah Cammer wants the scope limited. Brian Laffond is looking for an update on how much is going to get rolled out and the format on the website is currently being configured. John Rabbitt will give an update once one is available but anticipates the website launching in mid-March. Sarah Cammer likes the layout but there may need to be some additional discussion on some of the content.  CAI – Currently we “freeze” Property Record Card as of January 1 each year o Discuss updating more frequently. Brian Laffond suggested that we should consider quarterly or monthly.  Review Property Cards for recent abatement requests / Investigate differences o Assessment Reconciliation – Sample Findings. Sarah Cammer – apparently abatements were not recorded and are not reflected on the Vision database.  Potential ad-hoc citizen Advisory Committee(s) to aid BOA members o Response to extensive citizen questions. - i.e. Derner, Lucks, Blatt – FAQs? o Data Analysis team – Brian Laffond suggested that his is probably too bulky / difficult to manage. o Outreach team- Tabled FUTURE TOPICS  Review and Approve Chapter Land Exemptions  Schedule Future Zoom Session for Public Q&A with Nate Cramer UPCOMING MEETING/ EVENTS SCHEDULED  January 31, 2024 – Cancelled  February 5, 2024 CLOSING COMMENTS ===PAGE 4===  Public  Board ADJOURN