More on Contracted Assessing
June 15, 2010
Gray New Gloucester Gazette
Letter to the Editor
Penny Hilton would like people to believe there is something sinister about contract assessing. Ms. Hilton suggests towns have to hire "extra help" to get the work done. She is misrepresenting the contract assessing choice.
Many towns utilize shared clerical help to meet day to day needs. These towns have apportioned the cost of clerical help to department budgets, including assessing. This is not "extra help". It is paying for clerical positions to do clerical work instead of paying assessors/code officers/planners to do clerical work.
Ms. Hilton made some quick comparisons between New Gloucester, a town with a parcel count around 2800 and a total taxable valuation of just over $500,000,000 and a number of John E. O'Donnell and Associates' clients. The first was the Town of Raymond, a town with 3900 taxable parcels and $980,000,000 in taxable valuation. Raymond pays $55,000 each year for three days of dedicated assessing clerical help and 450 hours of contract assessing service. This is a cost of 5 cents per $1,000 of taxable valuation or $18 per parcel for over 4 days of week of office presence. The next town was Bridgton, a town of 5500 parcels and a total taxable valuation of $965,000,000. Bridgton pays about $72,000 for an assessing clerk and 425 hours of contract assessing service including 1 day each week of office presence. The assessing clerk is in the Town office 5 days per week yet is cross trained to work the front counter and also works with the finance director. She spends approximately 60% of her time on assessing. This is a cost of less than 7 cents per $1,000 of taxable value or $13 per parcel and full-time office presence.
As Ms. Hilton discovered and the prior paragraph shows, reviewing each town to make meaningful comparisons is difficult and not well suited to a letter to the editor. Each town is unique in how it delivers service and how it breaks down costs in the budget. Some towns include setting aside money for revaluation in their assessing budget each year. Some towns include tax mapping and Geographic Information Systems in the assessing budget. Some towns include software costs. The point is that towns mix and match funding in different ways. To make meaningful comparisons you must compare apples to apples. Ms. Hilton is broad brushing in her letter and then accuses others of being manipulative when they broad brush as well.
In 2007, Cumberland County contracted an assessing feasibility study. The study was completed by Robert Finnegan, a consultant referred by the International Association of Assessing Officers. Mr. Finnegan looked at each town in Cumberland County and strived for apples to apples comparison of town costs. This effort took clerical costs, mapping costs, software costs, and other operating expenses like deed copies into account.
The consultant produced the accompanying table to present annual assessment administration costs per parcel.
The O'Donnell clients on the list are Naples (32 years), Bridgton (15 years), Sebago (22 years), North Yarmouth (22 years), Raymond (16 years), Baldwin (19 years), and Casco (5 years). Both Raymond and Casco had full time assessors during all or part of the time the study was conducted so their costs are now lower than what is depicted in the table.
The length of service and the fact that Raymond and Casco have successfully transitioned away from full time assessors demonstrate that contract assessing works. The table of per parcel costs is an experienced professional's unbiased study of assessing costs for towns in Cumberland County.
Where does New Gloucester fit in to this? I contend that the assessing work in New Gloucester is less similar to Freeport, Westbrook, Falmouth, and Brunswick than it is to Naples, Bridgton, Sebago, and North Yarmouth.
Sincerely,
John E. O'Donnell III, President
John E. O'Donnell & Associates
