===PAGE 1=== LUNENBURG BOARD OF ASSESSORS January 22, 2025 RITTER BUILDING, UPPER-LEVEL CONFERENCE ROOM 960 MASSACHUSETTS A VE. 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.  Status of FY2025 Abatement Applications, CAI/Vision Property Record Cards Update. Other items as needed. Lynda McQuade provided the following updates: - 6 abutters list requests were received. - 109 real estate exemptions were processed. There are an additional 6 real estate exemptions from the first of the year. - A total of 16 real estate and personal property abatements applications have been received. The deadline is February 3rd. - 16 motor vehicle excise tax abatements have been processed, and the office is currently up to date. - 490 forms of list have been mailed out for FY 26. Lynda McQuade confirms that the property cards online have been updated, and the CAI property card has been removed. Property record cards are updated once a year after the actual tax bill goes out. The goals for next month include: - Growth for FY 26 - Schedule inspections for FY 25 real estate and personal property abatements - Review fiscal 26-chapter lien applications The Interim Town Manager is working on the budget now. Lynda McQuade submitted the following documents on January 21: - Salaries, contracted services, maps, postage, office supplies, mileage reimbursement, dues and memberships, schooling o $17,000 for cyclical inspections to be completed by Vision. This is a 3- year contract. ===PAGE 2=== - $25,000 is budgeted for the neighborhood revision. Per Department of Revenue there are 500 lake properties that have site indexes to be reviewed. - $7,500 to update maps. - $22,000 for personal property appraisals by Real Estate Research Consultants (RRC). CURRENT BUSINESS  Review and Approve Minutes of January 8, 2025, December 10, 2024, November 20, 2024, November 6, 2024, October 16, 2024, October 2, 2024, Executive Session of December 10, 2024. The Board plans to review and approve all minutes at the next meeting on February 5, 2025.  Review and Approve Invoices, Expense V ouchers, Billing Errors, etc. This topic was skipped for this meeting.  Assessor Conference at the Senior Center, February 3, 2025. The Board reviewed the slides provided by John Rabbitt and discussed their edits. The Board thanked John Rabbitt for all his hard work preparing for the conference.  Senior Means Tested Exemption. There was discussion about creating a subgroup tasked at working on these exemptions.  Neighborhood/Site Index Review/Plan in response to DOR Directives. Lynda McQuade suggests using Rena Swezey and Denise McCue to complete the review in-house. Lynda McQuade suggests starting with the lake properties. Sarah Cammer asks if there is a document with a format or template that is submitted when a bid is put out. Additionally, she states that policy needs to be written down somewhere with characteristics that belong in a neighborhood.  Policy and Homeowner Letter for Issues with Deeds. Lynda McQuade confirms there have been some issues regarding clarity with deeds. Lynda McQuade suggests creating a policy stating if the deed is unable to be understood then the homeowners need to reach out to the attorney who prepared it. The Assessor’s Office has spoken to 2 real estate attorneys, and they suggest contacting the BAR association. Sarah Cammer and Brian Laffond suggest reaching out to the registrar of deeds and find the policy regarding multiple properties and multiple parcels on a single deed.  Assessor Website. ===PAGE 3=== Brian Laffond sent over the old versus the new spreadsheet with a pivot table attached. Lynda McQuade added land use codes. If all members are in agreement, Brian Laffond would like to add this document to the website. Approved. POSTPONED TOPICS  Clause 41 and 17 Assets/Income Level Adjustments for Exemptions (Brian)  BOA Policies UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE Upcoming Meetings: February 5, 2025, February 19, 2025, March 5, 2025, March 19, 2025 CLOSING COMMENTS  Public There were no comments from the public.  Board There were no comments from the Board. ADJOURN There was a motion to adjourn and enter into executive session by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. The meeting closed at 8:42 PM.