Willimantic advised to revalue properties

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Although Piscataquis County commissioners on Tuesday denied nine of 12 tax abatement requests from Willimantic residents, the commissioners strongly recommended that the residents pursue a townwide property revaluation by an outside assessing firm.

The information provided during the tax abatement hearings held since January raised serious questions about the ethical nature of the tax system in the community, Commissioner Tom Lizotte said Tuesday. He also noted the dysfunctional nature of the politics in the town.

“We fully realize this process has not been ideal,” Lizotte told the 30 Willimantic residents, including Selectman Bruce Thomas, who were in attendance. But trying to revalue the town one property at a time simply is not feasible, he said.

At the request of the commissioners, Maine Revenue Services audited Willimantic’s valuation book earlier this year but found no inconsistent property values in the town.

The state officials involved in the audit did not make any site visits to properties, instead taking the valuations recorded by town officials and reconciling every entry for the past four years.

Those residents whose tax abatement hearings have been held claim that there is no consistency in the assessing and that different assessing manuals are used by the assessors, who also serve as selectmen. They also claimed that some properties have not been assessed while others have not had their values increased in several years.

Alexandra Conover, whose tax abatement request was heard Tuesday, compared her 1,250-square-foot workshop-warehouse to four other similar buildings. She said the valuation on her unfinished building, which has no plumbing, no basement, no insulation in the floor and no well, went from $41,000 in 1991-2002 to $94,000 this year.

She compared them to similarly sized buildings, some of which have better amenities, such as the Big Pine Gun Club, valued at $19 per square foot; a 60-feet by 60-feet hangar located on Wilson Stream and owned by Numberall Stamp & Tool Co., a local company, valued at $10 per square foot; and a newer 60-feet by 80-feet hangar, also owned by Numberall’s, valued at $14 per square foot. The resident said she was being charged $76 per square foot.

Conover’s abatement hearing heard Tuesday and another scheduled next month are the last two hearings requested. A decision on Conover’s request will be made in about a month.

Selectman Thomas, the only town official present Tuesday, spoke briefly. He said the tax abatement requests were related to conflicts in the town.

As to the comparisons provided by Conover, he noted there are differences between the properties in that one has a dirt floor.

“It’s an apples-to-apples thing here,” he said.