Should an Assessor Assess their own Property?

One of our residential assessors in Nashua purchased a property, 49 Sanborn Drive, when the parents of his partner decided to sell. This property was listed as a “family sale: and as such, it was not MLS listed. That means, an assessor does not review the property when the sale is complete.

 The assessor who purchases the property conducts an “inspection” of the property, prior to purchase, and drops the assessment a small amount. This raises some red flags in assessing ethics.

 Once this assessor becomes owner of the property, a $80,000 permit is pulled to convert the garage into an in-law apartment with a bath, kitchen, and living space.

 Once completed, the permit is assessed by an entry level Nashua data collector. The home grade and effective year built are not changed. Interestingly, and also unsurprisingly, the assessor does not update the card to increase the assessment in line with how he routinely handles other residential properties that have sold. His brother, the other Nashua residential assessor tasked with reviewing his work, ignores this major mistake as well.

 To add insult to injury, the entry level associate, omits the second in-law kitchen that was added to the property and listed on the permit. It’s nowhere to be found for years.

 After five years later, the newly hired deputy chief of assessing finds the error and adds the kitchen to the property record card increasing the assessment.

How does this property assess now in his neighborhood? It carries the lowest price per square foot because the depreciation was never reduced once the home was upgrade. It helps to know your assessor especially when it's you!

 I’ve documented some of the discrepancies between the assessments on sold and unsold properties in previous posts on GoodGov. This is another example. I would like to believe that this ethics violation would not have happened if it were added to the MLS system, and forced an official assessor review. But it probably would’ve only brought out the same assessor, the homeowner, to do the job.

 What we do know is, oversight of the Assessing Department is asleep. This is a glaring ethics violation – property assessors evaluating their own homes and siblings reviewing work. I hope the city sees how ludicrous this is and re-evaluates the assessor’s home – he shouldn’t be getting a sweet deal on his own work. Is this what you would like to see in your neighborhood?

 For reference, the New Hampshire Association of Assessing Officials found no ethics violations with the assessor’s work because the 3 year time limit had passed. For reference, the permit was assessed in 2006 and the kitchen was captured in 2010.