===PAGE 1=== LUNENBURG BOARD OF ASSESSORS DECEMBER 18, 2024 BILOTTA ROOM, LUNENBURG TOWN HALL 17 MAIN STREET Present Members: Chair Brian Laffond, Vice Chair Sarah Cammer, Clerk John Rabbitt (Zoom), Principal Assessor Lynda McQuade 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 PRINCIPAL ASSESSOR - Tax Rate and Motor Vehicle Abatements, CAI/Vision Property Record Cards Update. Other items as needed The BOA approved 109 exemptions for FY 25 on December 10 th. Lynda McQuade worked with Randy Mercier on the FY 2025 actual bills. There was a bridging issue that caused some duplication. This issue was resolved last Friday. There were other towns that also were having issues with MUNIS and Vision. Motor vehicle excise commitment number 6 was sent out at the end of November. There were 396 bills totaling $49,562.24. The commitment was approved by the BOA on November 20th. In the past month, there have been 39 motor vehicle excise tax abatements received. The office is currently up to date. Lynda McQuade met with the new planning director, Chris Riley. There have been some issues with plans and deeds not matching up. 3 abutters lists were received in the last month. Goals for the month include: -Generate the FY26 forms and get them mailed. - The abatement period starts on January 1 st and concludes February 3rd . - Review FY25 chapter lien applications with the BOA ===PAGE 2=== There was a motion to have information put into the Ledger about abatements by John Rabbitt, seconded by Brian Laffond. Roll call vote. John Rabbitt aye, Brian Laffond no, Sarah Cammer no. The motion failed. CURRENT BUSINESS - Review and Approve Minutes of November 20, 2024, and November 6, 2024, October 16, 2024, October 2, 2024. Executive Sessions of December 10, 2024, and August 19, 2024. The minutes from open sessions were postponed until all members are present and are in person. There was a motion to approve the executive sessions minutes from December 10, 2024, by Sarah Cammer, seconded by Brian Laffond. The minutes from August 19, 2024, have previously been approved. - Review and Approve Invoices, Expense V ouchers, Billing Errors, Etc. Lynda McQuade provided an invoice for stamps totaling $43.50. Carter Terenzini approved the 2026 interim for the Vision contract totaling $4,800. 2 motor vehicle abatements were signed. The assessor’s office is currently up to date with motor vehicle abatements. The 1st bill totaled $242.20, and the 2nd bill totaled $3,460.39. - Assessor Conference at the Senior Center The Assessor’s Conference is scheduled for February 3rd at 1PM. This meeting is scheduled to last 2 hours. Michael-Ray Jeffreys will provide an update from the Select Board regarding Lunenburg senior housing. Lynda McQuade will discuss tax exemption updates and notable benchmarks. Brian Laffond requested a copy of the presentations and packets to be provided for approval prior to the meeting. John Rabbitt wants to bring the assessor’s office employees down to the meeting. Brian Laffond disagrees and believes Lynda McQuade only needs to be present. Sarah Cammer states that the office can be invited but not required to be present. There was a motion to invite the 3 assessor’s office employees to the meeting by John Rabbitt, seconded by Brian Laffond. Roll call vote. John Rabbit aye, Sarah Cammer no, Brian Laffond no. - Update on Recap and Tax Rate ===PAGE 3=== The tax recap and tax rate were approved by the Department of Revenue on December 9th. There was a motion to approve the tax rate and tax recap by John Rabbitt, seconded by Sarah Cammer. All in favor. Brian Laffond aye, Sarah Cammer aye, John Rabbitt aye. The new FY 2025 tax rate is 1436 per thousand. - Exemption Flyer Lynda McQuade created an exemption flyer that is easier to read and broken down into categories. This flyer will be included in the packet for the Senior Center meeting in February. Additionally, it will be posted on the website once completed. - Clause 41 and 17 Assets/Income Level Adjustments for Exemptions Lynda McQuade states that COLA is unabl e to be added this year but will be added next year. The BOA needs to figure out a warrant that includes implications and related costs. Brian Laffond will draft an article about the adjustments for exemptions. - Outline for Neighborhood/site evaluation consultant in response to COR Directives The neighborhood working group found that the site indexes were doubling as neighborhoods. The goal should be that the site indexes address the differences in properties within the neighborhood. Sarah Cammer will draft a proposal. - Assessor Website Brian Laffond spoke to the web developer and there was discussion that John Rabbitt wanted to add pictures and photographs to the website. The web developer was concerned with adding pictures as that is not typically done due to Cybersecurity concerns. POSTPONED TOPICS - Discuss Details and Development of Assessing Calendar - BOA Policies ===PAGE 4=== UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULED - Upcoming Meetings: Determine January meeting dates Brian Laffond proposed the next meeting dates of January 8th and January 22 nd. Brian Laffond suggests starting in February switching to the first and third Wednesday of the month for meetings. The anticipated meetings are February 5th and 19th, March 5th and 19th, April 2nd and 16th. CLOSING COMMENTS - Public Paul and Stephanie Grzybowski, 42 Oak Ave., Stephanie Grzybowski states their home assessment went up 86%. They don’t live on a lake, mountain, and have no acreage. Additionally, they have a limited income and are on a tight budget. Stephanie Grzybowski states that seeing these numbers was a disgrace. Brian Laffond just found out about this recently but believes there may be a remedy. Lynda McQuade will provide the abatement and confirms there was an error in the way that condo complex costs were calculated in Vision. - Board John Rabbitt questions if there were a ny other issues with the condos in town. Brian Laffond states he is currently unaware of any additional issues. ADJOURN There was a motion to adjourn by Sarah Ca mmer, seconded by John Rabbitt. Roll call vote. John Rabbitt aye, Sarah Cammer aye, Brian Laffond aye. The meeting closed at 8:20 PM.