I don't think anyone is arguing that inequality in tax payments is the goal. We are all interested in equality and fairness. The single tax rate per thousand valuation accomplishes the equality argument. However, the gross, unsupportable, and apparently disproportional increases in a down economy with few lakefront sales in Moultonborough has some property owners very upset. Roughly 1/3rd of the town (non-lakefront) went down 10% in valuations and 2/3rd (Lakefront) went up about 6% in the aggregate, for a net change in values of up 1%. Within the 2/3rds lakefront are increases of more than 25% in a bad real estate market right after the town did a full blown "fair market value" evaluation last year. Why is last years data so far off if Vision did their jobs 12 months ago? Up to now, the BOS has not taken any leadership in the process....they are just listening and fielding comments and concerns. Time is running out for them to get engaged....and it will probably cost the town lots of money defending abatements, possible petition suits, etc. etc. It is also quite interesting that not all towns with lakefront use Vision Appraisal. It may be the time for Moultonborough to re-look at this contract and possibly hire a new organization. Fresh eyes sometimes are a good thing. With a full time in-house assessor, it makes me wonder why we need an outside firm at all. For the $70,000 + we are paying Vision, we could hire another person in-house to help with the field work and not outsource. But up to now, our in-house team has not been very visible. Remember, the meeting on August 26th at 4PM in Town Hall may be the last real chance to voice YOUR concerns. If you do not make an effort to attend, then be happy with your increased lakefront assessment, pay more in taxes, and move on. It is really up to you in the final analysis.
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