Victim Politics in Nashua City Hall
Recently, the Administrative Services Director, Kim Kleiner, published a post on Facebook regarding public testimony at a Board of Tax and Land Appeal (BTLA) hearing. The order states that the BTLA has “broad authority to order assessments or to rectify assessment that have been “fraudulently, improperly, unequally or illegally assessed”. Her choice of words in her post illustrates how the Administration and Board(s) perceive public comment as public nuisance.
In the Facebook post, Ms. Kleiner wrote that citizens went to the BTLA against the City. The public’s “complaints” caused the BTLA to issue an order for a full measure and list of all properties. This is a distorted and deceiving comment.
In the order for hearing, the BTLA writes, “the board’s concerns rise, in part, from a property tax appeal” (Corazzini v City of Nashua) and “a number of articles published in the Nashua Telegraph and Union Leader.”
The Order further states that they will “allow City officials and any interested persons to present evidence” regarding these concerns. This is a very serious and unusual move by the BTLA to order a hearing to investigate a municipality without complaints by any citizen. Hearings of this type typically require 50 taxpayer signatures. More interestingly, representatives from the Department of Revenue (DRA), gave testimony regarding their serious concerns with the City’s assessing practices. Might the DRA complaints have caused the BTLA to order the measure and list?
The “citizens” did not “go to the BTLA against the City” as stated by Ms. Kleiner. They were invited to testify regarding their serious concerns with the City’s Assessing practices. These citizens, including myself, tried to address the issues with the City to no avail. The citizens actions are perceived by Ms. Kleiner as going “against the City.” Quite the opposite. The citizens were there in defense of the citizens of the City – we want a competent, fair Assessing Department in our city. It seems the City considers its citizens as adversaries in their effort to make assessments fair, transparent, and equitable.
All in all, what role did the Mayor, Ms. Kleiner and the Board’s (Alderman and Assessing) play in bringing about this State investigation? They seem to play role of the victims and carry little responsibility. Blaming the public is an insecure and incompetent response from our leaders.
The biggest impact of the City’s failures and inactions was the BTLA ruling to keep the docket open and requires the City to submit quarterly assessing updates to the BTLA. The last thing officials want is the State in their business. Officials opened the door to this; feel free to take all the credit.
The City’s strategy of denying, delaying, discrediting, and playing victim has to be called out. Officials that use these tactics want us to feel sorry for how “difficult” their jobs can be. So, I encourage everyone to keep a vigilant eye open for these behaviors. If we want great leaders in Nashua, we’re going to need more than the victim mentality that permeates City Hall.