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LUNENBURG BOARD OF ASSESSORS
APRIL 22, 2024
LOWER LEVEL, RITTER BUILDING
960 MASSACHUSETTS A VENUE
Present members: Chair Brian Laffond, Vice Chair Sarah Cammer, Clerk John Rabbitt, Principal 
Assessor Lynda McQuade, Assessing Consultant Rena Swezey
CALL TO ORDER
 The meeting opened at 6:30 PM.
OPENING COMMENTS
 Board
There were no comments from the Board.
 Public
There were no comments from the public.  
STATUS REPORT FROM ASSESSING CONSULTANT and NEW PRINCIPAL ASSESSOR.
Lynda McQuade and Rena Swezey started to review the 102 building permits from 2021 
to 2023 to assure the information has been included in the Vision appraisal software. 
The first batch of motor vehicle abatements and trailer excise tax abatements totaled 
$11,218.36 for the month of March.
Both Lynda McQuade and Rena Swezey went through commitment number 2 of motor 
vehicle abatements. There were 889 bills of commitment totaling $285,816.11. There was
one bill for commitment number 9 of 2022 totaling $77.98. 
A new zoning map was provided to the Police and Fire Department.
The office now has access to NEAR map. The drawback is the data is from March of 
2023. 
Both Lynda McQuade and Rena Swezey have completed the abutters list starting in 
March until the current time. 
Brian Laffond states that most abatement applications for 2023 were kept in the office but
there are three that were taken out of the office and are now missing.
So far, 6 applications for abatement requests for 2024 have been received. Rena Swezey 
states there was 1abatement that included 140-150 parcels.  Lynda McQuade has been 
receiving many calls relating to the Q4 bills.  Brian Laffond discussed that the Board did 
not put an explanation letter in the Q4 bills but will do so as needed in the future.
CURRENT BUSINESS
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 Review and Approve Minutes of: Jan. 8, 2024, Jan. 22, 2024, Jan. 29, 2024, Feb. 5,   2024,
Feb. 12, 2024, Feb. 26, 2024, March 04, 2024, March 12, 2024, March 18, 2024, April 
01, 2024
There was a motion to accept the January 8, 2024, minutes with amendments by 
John Rabbitt, seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the January 22, 2024, minutes as written by John 
Rabbitt, seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the January 29, 2024, minutes as written by John 
Rabbitt, seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the February 5, 2024, minutes as written by Sarah 
Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the February 12, 2024, minutes as written by Sarah 
Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor. 
There was a motion to accept the February 26, 2024, minutes with amendments 
by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the March 4, 2024, minutes as written by Sarah 
Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the March 12, 2024, minutes with amendments by 
John Rabbitt, seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the March 18, 2024, minutes with amendments by 
Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the April 1, 2024, minutes with amendments by 
Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
 Review and Approve Invoices, Expense V ouchers, Payroll, Billing Errors, etc.  
There was a motion to accept the invoices dated March 15, 2024, for the amount 
of $14,484.88 and the invoice dated April 9, 2024, for the amount of $2,632.89 
for services provided by Vision Government Solutions for the completion of our 
5-year reevaluation by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor. 
Included in the invoices was a bill for three copies of the 5-year reevaluation from
Vision. One copy is available to check out at the Assessor’s Office, one copy is 
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available to check out by the Lunenburg Public Library, and the last copy will stay
in the Assessors Office for office use.
A bill from MFS was reviewed and signed for ATB cases totaling $1,800. There 
was a motion to accept the bill from MFS for the classification hearing and the 
ATB cases dated March 10, 2024, by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. 
All in favor.
A quarterly bill was received from MLS for account access from April 1 to June 
30. There was a motion to pay the $87 invoice from MLS by John Rabbitt, 
seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor.
The next bill is from CAI for the site index totaling $1,400. There was a motion to
accept the bill totaling $1,400 by John Rabbitt, seconded by Brian Laffond. All in 
favor. 
The warrant was signed to collect the motor vehicle excise for commitment 
number two totaling $285,816.11. There was a motion to accept the bill by Sarah 
Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
Commitment 9 bill for 2022 was received totaling $77.98. There was a motion to 
accept the bill by John Rabbitt, seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor.
There was a motion to accept the abatement totaling $403.32 by Sarah Cammer, 
seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor.
A total of 98 motor vehicle abatements were processed totaling $11,283.12. There
was a motion to accept the 98 motor vehicle abatements by Sarah Cammer, 
seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor. 
An abatement settlement of $8,672.95 was received. There was a motion to accept
by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor. 
 Review revisions to 'How to Read Your Vision Card”  
After reviewing there were some minor changes in the dates to be corrected. 
Sarah Cammer will get the document posted to the splash-page.
John Rabbitt suggests creating a table of contents. 
 Status of Roll out of Website Improvements  
John Rabbitt was waiting for additional information from Brian Laffond and 
Sarah Cammer. 
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John Rabbitt is hoping the website will go live by the end of the month. When it 
goes live there will also need to be tests to confirm all the links are working 
correctly. Originally, John Rabbitt thought this would be completed by the middle 
of April but confirms this will be done before the town meeting. 
 Progress on developing FAQ’s from Citizen’s Questions  
Multiple lists of questions have been created. The next step is to discuss what 
questions need to be forwarded to the consultants to answer and which ones the 
Board can answer. 
Rena Swezey suggests looking at frequently asked questions and answers on other
town web-pages.
 Status of the 5 Year Revaluation, including the 9 DLS Directives.  
o Determine how / when best to attack each of them (includes Neighborhood 
review, Cyclical and Interim reviews).
Department of Local Services directives include:
 Cyclical inspection through RFP
 Income/expense data
 Land schedule
 Personal property/second homes
 Sales verification
 Neighborhood review 
Sarah Cammer will write up and draft a formal document stating what the 
intentions of a Neighborhood Review subcommittee will be. This will be 
reviewed at the meeting on May 6 along with the neighborhood review.
 Lessons and potential solutions from 2023 experience – Jack Rabbitt  
John Rabbitt reviewed data dating back from January of 2023 and created a list 
that was sent to the Board members.  There is some confusion because John 
Rabbitt did not provide any solutions and just gave historical observations. 
Sarah Cammer states what John provided is a reaccounting and speculation about 
what happened and is not based on a review of what has been done this year. 
 Clarification of our current situation regarding Exemptions.  
Lynda McQuade spoke with Jim Crowley who is an attorney for the Department 
of Revenue regarding 41C. For 41C to apply you must be 70 years old as of July 1
and the exemption amount is $750. For 2024 we must go by the income 
limitations which is $315 for single person and $396 for a married person. The 
asset limitation for a single person is $527 and a married person is $727. COLA 
must be adopted to have 41D as an exemption. That will then allow for COLA 
yearly and be able to follow the legislature income limitations.
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 Investigations are ongoing so we are ready for ATM. We may want to do a full review /   
summary
Brian Laffond has put together a calendar of important events and due dates.
The investigation is still ongoing.
 “White papers”: Board of Assessors Communication – Jack Rabbitt  
Both Brian Laffond and John Rabbitt spoke with the town’s legal counsel. John 
Rabbitt states there is a way to have the white paper process and make it work. 
White papers can be created individually, and it can be posted before the meeting 
as long as there is no debate and in a public place. 
Brian Laffond spoke to town counsel, and it was recommended to bring an item to
a meeting if you want to share and then come back and discuss it at the next 
meeting to come to a conclusion. 
FUTURE TOPICS
 “Work Breakdown Structure”
 BOA Policies
UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE
 May 6, 2024
 May 20, 2024
CLOSING COMMENTS
 Public
There was no public comment.
 Board
There was no Board comment.
Motion to enter into executive session not to return to open session by Sarah Cammer, seconded 
by John Rabbitt.
The public session closed at 9:33 PM. 
EXECUTIVE SESSION