04-21-2004 Council Minutes Local Board of Appeals & Equalization

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO LOCAL BOARD OF APPEALS AND EQUALIZATION MEETING Wednesday, April 21, 2004 7:00 o'clock p.m. Ms. Blackstone thanked the Board for their consideration of her issues. 4) Mike Adair, 650 Tonkawa Rd, PID #05- 117 -23 33 0005 Mr. Adair also indicated he had not understood the meeting to be stage two of the appeals process, did not know about stage one, apologized and stated his appreciation of the Board's time to hear his concerns. Mr. Adair expressed he was stunned and troubled by the 34% increase in market value for his property. He acknowledged he has a valuable piece of property on which he grew up and purchased from his parents but stated he finds it unbelievable that the market is being driven by the `haves' and that the average person has trouble staying on his own property. Mr. Adair stated he wanted some understanding of how the property value could increase so much in one year. Davy confirmed the parcel has more than 50' of lakeshore. Mr. Adair agreed and stated he understood the majority of the property's value was in the land itself. Davy expressed that in the Tonkawa area the assessors have seen the entry type of market parcels increase drastically over the past several years. The assessor had values of about $350,000 and now the values have increased to $550,000 or more based on sales that have occurred. • Mr. Adair acknowledged that he understood the relationship of values to sales. • White questioned if the assessors are trying to keep the assessed values so close to market values or at least in the 95 -100% range, why does a parcel increase over 35% when the average increase in lakeshore is 10% this year. Davy stated the only reason for the larger percentage is that it was undervalued and even with constant analysis of the markets and sales that occur, unfortunately there are some properties in certain areas, on certain bays, or certain home types that will receive dramatically higher increases than the average. Murphy empathized with Mr. Adair's concerns, explaining that the City Council has struggled with the issue of keeping Orono residents at home on their properties, especially with lakeshore properties and on Tonkawa with its expensive properties. He concluded that it is a free market situation. Mr. Adair replied he lived in the Tonkawa area long before the recent high sales prices occurred. Mayor Peterson asked Davy if part of the problem with the higher increases experienced by Ms. Blackstone and Mr. Adair's properties is because of the 2004 Reevaluation area in the southwest quadrant that was physically visited this year. Davy indicated it does not necessarily mean it would not have gone up by that much. He explained the increases are primarily based on sales in that area for the year. Murphy asked Mr. Adair for the taxable market value on his property. Mr. Adair responded the • taxable market value is $450,539 for 2005 with 100' of lakefront. He advised he was not interested Page 6 of 11