INFORMATION FORDUKES COUNTY TAXPAYERS

FromThe Island Counties Assessors Association, Inc.This booklet is designed to give the Dukes County taxpayer a brief overview of the duties andresponsibilities of the boards of assessors in the six towns on Martha’s Vineyard and someinformation which might be of interest to you. The boards of assessors believe that taxpayers should be fully aware of how assessing operations are performed so that they can reassure themselves theyare being treated fairly.Should you ever need or want additional information concerning your assessment or exemption, or the laws governing them, please contact the assessors office in your town. We are here to assist you.rev. 12/2009

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS

Presently, the boards of assessors on Martha’s Vineyard appraise and assess approximately20,000 parcels of property.The board of assessors in each city and town in the state is required by Massachusetts law to listand value all real and personal property. Valuation is subject to “ad valorem” taxation on anassessment roll each year, which means that all property should be taxed “according to value.” InMassachusetts, assessed values are based on “full and fair cash value”, or 100 % of the fair market value.Assessors are required to submit these values to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue for certification every three years. In the years between certification, assessors must also maintainthe values. Assessors review property sales each year to determine if changes in assessed valuesshould be made. This is done so that each property taxpayer pays his or her fair share of the costof local government, in proportion to the amount of money the property is worth, on a yearly basis rather than only every three years.The local board of assessors does not raise or lower taxes. The board of assessors does not makethe laws that affect property owners. The Massachusetts Constitution requires that direct taxeson persons and property be proportionately and reasonably imposed. In addition, the Declarationof Rights, Part I, Article 10, requires each individual to bear his or her fair share of the publicexpenses.The board of assessors is required to annually assess taxes in an amount sufficient to cover thestate and local appropriations chargeable to the town. These appropriations will include state andcounty appropriations which have been duly certified to the local board of assessors, and allappropriations voted at town meetings.Your local board of assessors does not determine how much tax your town must raise. Theassessors’ primary responsibility is to find the “full and fair cash value” of your property, so thatyou pay only your fair share of the taxes. The tax rate is calculated by the assessors usinginformation collected from town meeting votes, various town officials, and state agencies. Thetax rate is simply the result of dividing the net tax required (after all available receipts have beenapplied) by the taxable value (assessments) of the town. Market activity determines assessmentswhile town meeting votes and other local obligations determine the tax levy (amount to be raised by taxation).

PROPOSITION 2 ½

Proposition 2 ½ places constraints on the maximum amount of tax levy raised by the town and onhow much the levy can go up from year to year. It allows a town to annually

increase its levy by1) 2.5% of the prior year’s levy, and 2) an additional amount based on the valuation of newconstruction and other allowable growth in the tax base (new growth) that is not the result of revaluation. The annual levy limit may never exceed the overall levy ceiling, which is 2.5% of the full and fair cash value of a town’s total taxable value.

DETERMINING VALUE

Valuation in Massachusetts is valuation at “full and fair cash value,” defined as the amount awilling buyer would pay a willing seller on the open market. Assessors must collect, record andanalyze a great deal of information about property and market characteristics in order to estimatethe fair market value of all properties in their community. Properties such as churches andeducational institutions are also valued even though they are exempt from taxation. Assessorsfirst inspect each property to record specific features of the land and building(s) that contribute toits value. Land size, location, view, building size, type and quality of construction, number of rooms, number of baths, number of fireplaces, type of heating system – all are examples of thedata collected on each individual property before the valuation process can begin.Finding the “market value” of a property involves discovering what similar properties are sellingfor, what the property would cost today to replace, and what financial factors, such as interestrates, may be affecting the real estate market. Valuation techniques for commercial andindustrial properties also include analysis from an investment point of view, since the purchase price the buyer is willing to pay depends, in part, on the return the buyer expects to receive.The assessors do not create value. Rather, they have the legal responsibility to discover it andmake sure that assessments reflect the changes occurring in the marketplace. People create property value by their transactions in the market. Since assessments must be set at marketvalue, rising real estate values will be reflected in generally higher assessed values. All properties, however, do not change in value to exactly the same degree. Many factors influencevalue, and the value of some properties may well increase more rapidly than others. Theconstruction of a garage, or the addition of a room would increase the market value of the property and, therefore, also increase the assessed value.In effect, the assessors do what property owners do to determine the selling price when putting a property up for sale, only the assessors must follow specific guidelines.