March 16, 2026 – Board of Assessors – Video & Transcript
March 16, 2026 - Board of Assessors
So we'll call this meeting, Board of Assessors meeting, to order by roll call vote.
Philip Parks here.
Steve Stiput here.
Doug McNeely here.
That's unanimous.
We're all here.
And moderator, do we have anyone in the waiting area for public comment?
No public comment.
Great.
Thank you.
And Rob, all yours.
If we move to page three, minutes for March 2nd, it's two pages, page three and four.
Looking for a motion to accept.
I move we accept the meeting minutes for March 2nd, as presented.
Could I have a second?
Doug McNeely second. Okay. By roll call vote. Steve Clifford, yes. Doug McNeely, yes. And Philip Parks, yes.
Unanimous. Thank you.
Moving on to correspondence and documents. We have none this evening.
Director's review and update of office activities. Stephen Foley's family expanded Tuesday, March 3rd, with the birth of Madeline. Stephen is and will continue to be out of the office until further notice.
Philip and Massimo are up for re-election. Nomination papers were available as of Monday, January 5th. Tuesday, March 10th was the last day for submission. As of the deadline, there's been one candidate who submitted papers. And a reminder, Monday, May 4th is the annual town meeting. The fiscal 2026 real estate abatement reviews and inspections were completed March 13th. The board is scheduled to vote later on in the executive session on all those proposed abatements and exemptions. The board of assessors representative on the senior tax relief committee, Stephen Clickgord, is going to update us on the proposed 2027 article for senior tax credit. Okay. Okay. There's something wrong with my group. I'm not sure what's going on. Okay. It's been approved. It's been submitted.
And I'm just looking to see if I find why I'm getting a double. All I can say is it was received, it was voted 5-0 in favor of it by the select board, and it was rejected 1-4 by the finance committee. And I guess it's going forward.
Okay. Thanks for that update. I think a copy of it is available if one wants to look online. Okay. Where is that found online, Steve?
I've got two treasures. I can email you a copy of it, but I thought it was available through the select board, but I'm not sure. I'll find it after the meeting, and I'll add that to the minutes. Okay. Where one can find that information. Okay. Thank you.
FY 2027 income and expense forms of list and three ABC forms were due Monday, March 2nd. At 7 p.m., collection of I&E and forms of list is still ongoing. We want this information, so we're very patient to receive it up until the point where we have to turn it over to our consultant. The office continues to support the Council on Aging with their constituents as they prepare calendar 2025 taxes. And on March 4th, Wednesday, March 4th, we had quite a car full of assessor records that made its trip into the Boston Public Library for digitizing, scanning, and sharing with the world. So, hopefully, in the next couple of months, we'll hear from BPL to get another batch ready for them and also retrieve those that they've already taken.
Are there any topics not anticipated prior to the posting and in advance of this meeting?
I have not. None for me. Are there any board members' thoughts and concerns?
Nope, nope, nope. None, thank you. The date of our next meeting is proposed to be Monday, April 13th, a little later in the month than normal. So, we can have, hopefully, the second commitment for motor vehicle excise tax, and we can wrap up the April 1st deadline for exemptions. So, again, we're doing exemptions in two phases, those as of March 13th, this past Friday, and then those up to April 1st, and we'll do that again on April 13th.
If there are no other comments, questions, or discussion to be had by the board, Philip, would you like to adjourn the meeting? Could you please read the preamble to why we would leave the meeting and go into executive session? Certainly. So, we're going to exit into executive session, and the meeting will adjourn to enter for purposes of complying with GLC 59, Section 60, and GLC 214, Section 1, Bravo. As permitted by Purpose 7 of GLC 30 Alpha and Section 21A to review and discuss minutes from Monday, March 2nd, 2026, 6.30 p.m. meeting of executive session, we'll vote to accept and release those minutes. We'll also be discussing fiscal year 2026 real estate exemptions as of Friday, March 13th. As of 12.30 p.m., we'll vote to grant or deny. We'll review fiscal year 26 real estate abatements, and we'll vote to grant or deny, and we'll also review fiscal year 26 WW2C Betterment Interest Abatement at 29 Pelham Island Road. We'll vote to grant or deny, and we will not return to open meeting. And so, we'll exit this into executive session by roll call vote. Philip Parks, yes? Yes. Yes. Yes. And we have... Thank you. See you there. You got the executive session. Thank you.
I move we accept the meeting minutes for March 2nd, as presented.
Could I have a second?
Doug McNeely second. Okay. By roll call vote. Steve Clifford, yes. Doug McNeely, yes. And Philip Parks, yes.
Unanimous. Thank you.
Moving on to correspondence and documents. We have none this evening.
Director's review and update of office activities. Stephen Foley's family expanded Tuesday, March 3rd, with the birth of Madeline. Stephen is and will continue to be out of the office until further notice.
Philip and Massimo are up for re-election. Nomination papers were available as of Monday, January 5th. Tuesday, March 10th was the last day for submission. As of the deadline, there's been one candidate who submitted papers. And a reminder, Monday, May 4th is the annual town meeting. The fiscal 2026 real estate abatement reviews and inspections were completed March 13th. The board is scheduled to vote later on in the executive session on all those proposed abatements and exemptions. The board of assessors representative on the senior tax relief committee, Stephen Clickgord, is going to update us on the proposed 2027 article for senior tax credit. Okay. Okay. There's something wrong with my group. I'm not sure what's going on. Okay. It's been approved. It's been submitted.
And I'm just looking to see if I find why I'm getting a double. All I can say is it was received, it was voted 5-0 in favor of it by the select board, and it was rejected 1-4 by the finance committee. And I guess it's going forward.
Okay. Thanks for that update. I think a copy of it is available if one wants to look online. Okay. Where is that found online, Steve?
I've got two treasures. I can email you a copy of it, but I thought it was available through the select board, but I'm not sure. I'll find it after the meeting, and I'll add that to the minutes. Okay. Where one can find that information. Okay. Thank you.
FY 2027 income and expense forms of list and three ABC forms were due Monday, March 2nd. At 7 p.m., collection of I&E and forms of list is still ongoing. We want this information, so we're very patient to receive it up until the point where we have to turn it over to our consultant. The office continues to support the Council on Aging with their constituents as they prepare calendar 2025 taxes. And on March 4th, Wednesday, March 4th, we had quite a car full of assessor records that made its trip into the Boston Public Library for digitizing, scanning, and sharing with the world. So, hopefully, in the next couple of months, we'll hear from BPL to get another batch ready for them and also retrieve those that they've already taken.
Are there any topics not anticipated prior to the posting and in advance of this meeting?
I have not. None for me. Are there any board members' thoughts and concerns?
Nope, nope, nope. None, thank you. The date of our next meeting is proposed to be Monday, April 13th, a little later in the month than normal. So, we can have, hopefully, the second commitment for motor vehicle excise tax, and we can wrap up the April 1st deadline for exemptions. So, again, we're doing exemptions in two phases, those as of March 13th, this past Friday, and then those up to April 1st, and we'll do that again on April 13th.
If there are no other comments, questions, or discussion to be had by the board, Philip, would you like to adjourn the meeting? Could you please read the preamble to why we would leave the meeting and go into executive session? Certainly. So, we're going to exit into executive session, and the meeting will adjourn to enter for purposes of complying with GLC 59, Section 60, and GLC 214, Section 1, Bravo. As permitted by Purpose 7 of GLC 30 Alpha and Section 21A to review and discuss minutes from Monday, March 2nd, 2026, 6.30 p.m. meeting of executive session, we'll vote to accept and release those minutes. We'll also be discussing fiscal year 2026 real estate exemptions as of Friday, March 13th. As of 12.30 p.m., we'll vote to grant or deny. We'll review fiscal year 26 real estate abatements, and we'll vote to grant or deny, and we'll also review fiscal year 26 WW2C Betterment Interest Abatement at 29 Pelham Island Road. We'll vote to grant or deny, and we will not return to open meeting. And so, we'll exit this into executive session by roll call vote. Philip Parks, yes? Yes. Yes. Yes. And we have... Thank you. See you there. You got the executive session. Thank you.