By ANNE LUNDREGAN, Telegraph Staff

Published: Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004

HUDSON - Taxpayers in town should be receiving the new assessed values of their homes sometime next month.

The town is completing a property value update and expects to send out notices next month informing residents of their new assessments.

Each homeowner receives an assessment that determines the amount of taxes owed each year. Those assessments, along with the assessments of business and industrial properties, form the town’s tax base and are used to calculate the property tax rate each year.

A town-wide revaluation was completed two years ago, during which each property was inspected and its assessment recalculated by examining market data and the parcel itself.

In the most recent update, New England Municipal Consultants looked at properties that sold between Jan. 1, 2003, and April 1 of this year. There were more than 500 sales during that time, Town Assessor Jim Michaud said.

As part of the update, homeowners were asked several questions, such as “do you believe what you paid for the property was fair?” They were also asked about the sale, if they went through a real estate agent or private seller and what their relationship, if any, was to the seller.

The sales included commercial and industrial properties and vacant land. However, those sales were a small percentage when compared to residential sales, Michaud said.

Although the revaluation was only two years ago, sales prices have continued to rise, throwing off the difference between assessed and market values.

After the revaluation, assessed values were about 92 percent of market values. Last year, that gap dropped to about 82 percent.

“Sales prices are going above the assessments,” Michaud.

The updated assessed values will reflect what the property’s market value would be as of April 1.

The state requires the difference between assessed and market values to be between 90 and 110 percent. The state is also reviewing Hudson’s assessing data as part of a four-year review in all the state’s towns and cities.

The biggest thing the state looks at is the ratio of assessed value to market value, Michaud said.

After the revaluation, Michaud recommended to the selectmen that the town conduct property updates every two years or more frequently if the market demands it.

A more accurate ratio means the assessments are more equitable, Michaud said. “We’re looking more at consistency,” he said.When the town conducted a revaluation, it had been 11 years since the last one. After the revaluation, the assessed value of single-family residences, excluding condominiums or manufactured housing, increased, on average, about 53 percent.

“Keeping values updated every two years will mitigate (the) substantial changes in assessed value we saw in 2002,” Michaud said.
Anne Lundregan can be reached at 594-6449 or .