Expert Finds Town Assessment Methods Fall Outside Norms, Skewing Land Values

By IAN FEIN

BOSTON - An expert land appraiser testified in a legal hearing last week that West Tisbury assessors damaged the integrity of the town's land values when they manipulated data on a property record that resulted in irrational increases to some assessments and property taxes.

"Their analysis was of a different type of property than was there prior, which means other values were nonrepresentative of reality because they had lost the integrity of their factual basis," LandVest appraiser Jay E. Closser told the chairman of the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board.

"I believe this caused drastic increases in assessments that were problematic and don't make sense. They would be, for me as an assessor, impossible to explain to a taxpayer," said Mr. Closser, who also worked as a town appraiser in Concord for 17 years and now serves as an elected member of the board of assessors in Orange.

Mr. Closser's remarks came last Thursday, which was the ninth day and fourth week of testimony in the protracted property tax appeal case.

The town's cross-examination of Mr. Closser resumes today.

West Tisbury resident William W. Graham, who owns 235 acres at Mohu off Lambert's Cove Road, is challenging his assessments for fiscal years 2003 and 2004, when he paid more than $500,000 in town property taxes.

Attorneys for Mr. Graham have charged that the fundamental system West Tisbury assessors use to determine land values and property taxes throughout the town is seriously flawed.

The town's defense has maintained that Mr. Graham's assessments are fair and accurate, and that other real estate sales in the area have justified the values.

Assessors attorney Ellen Hutchinson on Thursday challenged Mr. Closser's designation as an expert witness, noting that Mr. Graham's properties are the only appraisals he has conducted on Martha's Vineyard. Ms. Hutchinson also questioned his familiarity with the town's so-called "two-land-line valuation model," whereby the first line on a property record values a prime site of up to three acres, and a second line values excess acreage.

West Tisbury principal assessor Jo-Ann Resendes has testified she changed the property record in question to make it fit the two-land-line model.

"It is true that many properties end up with two land lines, but in my experience that is not formally known as a valuation model," Mr. Closser said. "It's certainly a local decision that assessors could make, but it seems to me that the goal of assessors would be to allow themselves flexibility in determining values. There are certain situations where it makes sense to have more than two or three lines."

Tax board chairman Anne Foley, who is presiding over the case, overruled the town's objections and designated Mr. Closser as an expert witness.

Mr. Closser, who was hired by Mr. Graham to review the town's 2002 revaluation and how it specifically related to his property, reiterated much of what Mr. Graham's attorneys argued in their opening statement, specifically that West Tisbury assessors altered the property record of a lot near Mr. Graham's in an attempt to match a predetermined value.

Such data on property records should only be changed if it is in error, Mr. Closser said - otherwise assessors would be changing the factual basis of their valuation model and skewing the values of other nearby properties.

Mr. Closser said the neighboring property record in question indicates that assessors reclassified eight acres of waterfront land and 60 acres of water-view land into 68 acres of nonwaterfront land with no view. In his report, submitted as evidence by Mr. Graham's attorneys, Mr. Closser said the reclassification flies in the face of reality.

"This particular property does afford excellent views," Mr. Closser testified. "No doubt there are certain places on the 60 acres that have no view, but I find it difficult to fathom that the whole thing can be changed so absolute."

Mr. Closser visited the neighboring property, as well as Mr. Graham's lots and others nearby, during his review in April.

Mr. Closser said the reclassification allowed assessors to value properties near Paul's Point on the north shore nearly twice as high on a per-acre basis than anywhere else in West Tisbury, other than a few select properties on the south shore.

Assessors use codes to mark the relative value of a certain neighborhood compared with others in town. After the 2002 revaluation, West Tisbury assessors increased the coding of Mr. Graham's neighborhood in a way that more than doubled the value of land on a per-acre basis. Changes to neighborhood codes elsewhere in town were on a much smaller scale.

"This certainly resulted in large increases in assessments, and also created what seems to me to be rather stark boundaries," Mr. Closser said.

He offered as an example one of Mr. Graham's lots that abuts a property where land is priced at less than a quarter of the value in Mr. Graham's neighborhood. The new neighborhood boundary created by assessors in 2002 traced the back edges of Mr. Graham's interior lots.

"These two properties are separated by a beautiful country path, which is certainly not a moat," Mr. Closser said. "The vast difference in value is very hard for me to comprehend."

Mr. Closser said neighborhoods should be more feathered, with a gradual increase in value from one to the next. He said assessors should strive for consistency across town, not just within neighborhoods.

Chairman Foley challenged Mr. Closser on this point.

"It is okay to have stark differences if that market values it that way," she said.

"I think the only time you would find that kind of a situation is in the inner city," Mr. Closser responded. "In rural areas like West Tisbury, abutting properties have more similarities than differences."

Mr. Closser suggested the assessors manipulated the property record and changed the neighborhood code dramatically so they could use the $10.4 million sale of a 12-acre waterfront lot in 1999 - at the time the highest price paid on a per-acre basis in town - to set the market for the area. He said they should have used the $12 million sale of the nearby 80-acre property instead.

"When one does real estate appraisals, you get as many sales as possible, and give less weight to the highest and lowest. Some in fact throw those out," Mr. Closser said. "When you use a 12-acre waterfront sale to value much larger properties not on the water, it creates inconsistencies."

Mr. Closser said the assessors likely made the changes in an attempt to match the sale prices and obtain certification from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR).

"There is more to the certification process than simply getting certified," Mr. Closser said. "After the DOR leaves, they're gone. But the taxpayer is still there," he added.

"Assessments have got to make sense, but in my opinion they've got to be equitable," Mr. Closser testified. "More analysis could have been done that would have resulted in more equitable assessments."

Mr. Closser gave his opinion of which neighborhood codes he believes the assessors should have used in the area. But he was not asked to estimate the fair market price of Mr. Graham's lots, which the town currently values at more than $58 million.

Four weeks into the hearing, Mr. Graham's case leaves the worth of his property in question.

Attorneys for Mr. Graham already have submitted more than 175 exhibits into evidence. The case will continue through this week and possibly into next. Mr. Graham is expected to take the stand before the hearing ends.