Valuations Go Up in All Towns; Edgartown to Adjust for Flaws

By IAN FEIN

A strong real estate market sent property values across the Vineyard skyrocketing this year, as four Island towns saw total valuations rise by more than 25 per cent.

Tisbury assessments jumped 38 per cent from the last fiscal year, from $1.7 billion to $2.3 billion; Aquinnah is up 35 per cent, from $450 million to $610 million; West Tisbury is up 29 per cent, from $2 billion to $2.6 billion; and Edgartown is up 25 per cent, from $4.3 billion to $5.4 billion.

Total valuations for the entire Island are up 22 per cent - from $13 billion to $15.8 billion for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

While assessments soared this year, average tax bills in each Vineyard town continue to rise at a comparatively steady rate.

Town budgets and tax levies are also increasing steadily across the Vineyard, where Proposition 2 1/2 overrides have become regular events in most towns save Aquinnah. (State law stipulates that towns cannot raise their annual levy by more than 2.5 per cent without voter approval.)

The Island numbers reflect a trend across the state, where property values climbed an average of 15.4 per cent last year - the largest increase of the last decade - while the average tax bill in the commonwealth went up 6.5 per cent.

Although town tax levies - not assessments - drive tax bills, revaluations can shift the tax burden among property owners within a town. Total valuations in Edgartown increased about 25 per cent this year, but waterfront properties went up almost 50 per cent - which means that tax bills will grow significantly for waterfront owners, and more than likely go down for inland residents.

However, Edgartown principal assessor Will Pfluger acknowledged this week that the new assessments, which relied on the work of an outside consultant, may have come in a little high, particularly on Chappaquiddick, where one property value more than tripled from $5 million to $16 million.

"We won't know for sure until all the facts are in, but we are taking another look at recent sales," Mr. Pfluger said. "We are sending out abatement applications, and are encouraging residents to follow the proper procedure."

Property owners have 30 days after tax bills are mailed to file an application for an abatement, or reduction to their property tax. Taxpayers can contest their bills for over-valuation, improper classification or a disproportionate assessment.

Tax bills for Tisbury and Oak Bluffs are due out by the end of the month, while Edgartown and West Tisbury are waiting for the state to approve their rates before they can mail the bills. Aquinnah has yet to set a rate, while it wrestles with an unsettled town budget five months into the new fiscal year. Chilmark sent out tax bills in October.

Chilmark was the only Island town this year that did not go through the triennial recertification required by the state Department of Revenue. Every three years, towns must demonstrate to the state - through a complex system of statistical analysis - that their assessments are in line with current market prices.

The quantum jump in property values for towns such as Aquinnah, West Tisbury and Tisbury reflects steadily rising real estate sales from the last two or three years. The two Island towns that saw the smallest increases in total valuations - Oak Bluffs and Chilmark - each conduct annual adjustments to their assessments.

"We've been doing our own interim adjustments every year, so that's helped us not take a big hit," explained Oak Bluffs assessor Diane Wilson.

Oak Bluffs valuations are up 16 per cent this year, from $2 billion to $2.3 billion, while Chilmark went up only 2.5 per cent, hovering near $2.5 billion.

With an average single-family home assessment of $1.52 million last year, Chilmark had far and away the highest property values in the state. Coupled with the lowest tax rate in the commonwealth, however, the average Chilmark tax bill ends up in the bottom half of the state - ranked 182 out of 351 towns, according to a state publication.

The same general trend occurs in most Cape and Islands towns, where seasonal property owners have high assessments and share the tax burden but require fewer municipal services. West Tisbury was the only town in the region that does not split its tax rate and was still ranked in the state's top 100 average single-family tax bills last year, numbering 91 on the list with an average bill of $3,771.

Beginning this year, the state Department of Revenue will require that every town conduct interim adjustments in the years between certification. The state wants to maintain market values and reduce steep increases like those seen by some Island towns this year.

Edgartown decided for the first time this year to hire an outside consultant - Vision Appraisal Technology Inc. of Northboro - to conduct the town residential revaluation. Vision Appraisal also does Edgartown's commercial assessments, as well as the residential revaluations for Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury.

"The purpose was to have somebody else take a fresh look at the whole town," said Mr. Pfluger, who conducted the revaluation himself three years ago. "I thought it was a good idea at the time, but now I'm not so sure."

By state request, Vision Appraisal incorporated a number of new factors into the analysis of Edgartown assessments, including dividing the town into more neighborhoods and changing the way they weighed waterfront and contiguous vacant lots.

After a series of complaints from residents, however, the assessors compared new assessments with some preliminary real estate sales from 2004 and found that there may in fact be an unfair discrepancy.

"It's so ironic in a way," Mr. Pfluger said. "Here you go through the whole process and the state certifies it and now it might be wrong. You can't win."