CUSHING, Maine — Thirty-eight property owners combined to file a court appeal Friday saying the town has placed an excessive value on their properties.
The court challenge was filed in Knox County Superior Court by owners of property in several new subdivisions — Meduncook Plantation, Gaunt Neck and Hornbarn Hill subdivisions — along the Meduncook River. Those subdivisions have been the focus of earlier legal battles between the town and developer.
The appeal filed Friday claims the assessments should be lowered by at least 20 percent. If granted, a 20 percent abatement would require the town to abate at least $53,000 in property taxes to the owners.
The property owners filed their abatement requests March 25, 2011. The assessors rejected the abatements on June 23. The owners then appealed to the town’s board of assessment review on Aug. 31. After several extensions, that board voted 3-2 on March 3 to reject the abatements.
The appeal claims that the decision of the board went against the weight of the evidence, the members of the board misunderstood the burden necessary to prove that the assessors were wrong, and the members mistakenly believed they could not consider anything other than arm’s-length sales and that they could not consider sales that occurred in the latter part of 2010. An arm’s-length sale is one that involves a seller and buyer who have no relationship to each other.
The property owners are represented by attorney Alton Stevens of Waterville.
The town is represented by attorney William Dale of Portland.
The appeal was filed on behalf of the Machias Savings Bank, which owns unsold lots in the subdivisions; David and Diane Anastasio of Topsfield, Mass.; Christopher Bouzaid and Lydia Langston of Newport, R.I.; Peter and Jane Board of Byfield, Mass.; Christopher Burdick and Illyria Puharich of Bedford, N.Y.; Ian and Pamela Cowie of Peaslake, United Kingdom; Gerald and Harise Dorfman of Canton, Mass.; Gaunt Neck Farm LLC of South Freeport; Mark and Cynthia Giroux of Corning, N.Y.; Christine Gray of West Redding, Conn.; Christopher Hoffman and Karen Murphy of Newton, Conn.; William and Deborah Kraft of Toms River, N.J.; R. Craig and Deborah Lord of Morristown, N.J.; Carolyn Morrill of Amsterdam, N.Y.; Jill Nederloff Trust of Corona Del Mar, Calif.; Kathryn and Gerald Nielsen of Kingwood, Texas; James and Jane Nyce of Wilton, Conn.; James and Deborah O’Leary of Newburyport, Mass.; Richard and Julia Palm of Cushing; Gary and Kathryn Simel of Cushing; and Karl Stein and Leah McCabe of Eau Claire, Wis.
So the farm and the bank are the only ones in this lawsuit truly from Maine? These must be some pretty nice properties to draw the crowd involved.
The title should be property owners cause these folks have “homes” elsewhere. These are the million dollar two week a year vacation homes.
Wow, some of the richest people in America have a Bedford, NY address. Brian Williams, Glenn Close, Chevy Chase, numerous filthy rich bankers and attorney’s, and Martha Stewart. Funny how the 1% doesn’t want to pay taxes on 2nd and 3rd homes.
How many of these rich people from out of state have kids enrolled in our schools? Half of our local taxes go tto education. Many Maine people have vacation homes on the water, I’m one of them-a small summer camp. A lot of us pay taxes in two towns that are 25 miles apart. Don’t feel too bad for small towns that have numerous vacation properties. My summer town does not collect my trash, maintain the road or anything else. They do have an excellent and prompt tax billing system.
Actually arms-length transactions are sales where there is no “compulsion” to sell or buy, for example you cannot count foreclosures, “short sales”, or sales where other things are included such as a business property that includes equipment and furniture. You also cannot count sales such as the State of Maine made at fire-sale prices to Barracks LLC of the former State Police Barracks in Thomaston. These types of sales are not “typical” sales where you have a motivated seller AND a motivated buyer coming together in a public market to make a transaction. Also the law is very clear: the presumption is that the Assessors got it right unless you can prove substantial overvaluation, illegal assessment or discriminatory valuation. This is a high bar for the appellants. Typically it is those who have deep pockets who can afford the lawyers to mount a Superior Court case about assessment. One guy who did so in Thomaston spent tens of thousands more than he ever would have saved in lower taxes on lawyers, etc. before he lost his case.
You ask about abatments in Dover-Foxcroft and you get the response we are in line with the State. The town has to wait for the State to drop values. It doesn’t seem to matter that property being listed for sale is at least 25% cheaper (guessing) than the town value. Everyone wants to spend and the only way they can do that is to keep the property tax going up. Raise the mill rate one year then the taxes the next.
So the rich folks want the locals to pay their property taxes. Don’t bet on it.
Wow, almost none of these people are even from Maine and they want to determine tax policy.
Sounds like an artist’s community to me.
Only a couple of families actually live in this Cushing community it looks like, surrounded by out of state people. I wonder how many comparable sales they can come up with in this small town, not in their home states.
My poppy always told me…”Always have your (shore front, 3rd) home assessed on a dungeon thick,snizzley, low-tide kind of day”.
And if you want to sell a summer camp or home-have the flowers planted, the float in the water, boat at the dock, and the annoying neighbors away for an out of state wedding!