By K.B. Sherman, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – Christopher Reidy, chair of the Shrewsbury Board of Assessors, appeared at the Nov. 12 Selectmen's meeting to update them on the triennial review of the town's assessing activities. The town assessor's office is charged with establishing market-based assessments for more than 12,000 real estate parcels and over 400 personal property accounts. The Assessor's Office employs one fulltime principal assessor, two part-time Board members, and two clerical positions. Every three years, the state's Department of Revenue reviews the activities of town assessors” offices and seeks to ensure that the town offices operate in compliance with state standards.
The state review analyzes how the town assessor's office performs property valuations, does income analyses, and measures sales prices against assessed values for possible changes in valuation. Town valuations and methods are then reviewed by the state's office in Boston for validation and approval. Reidy indicated that he expected no problems with this year's review.
While this formal process occurs every three years, Reidy noted that this process is conducted every year on a smaller basis at the town level. The Board responded to this review with approval. Selectman James Kane commented that the review needs to be completed soon so that the town can send out the annual property tax bills.