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The Board of Assessors and staff have completed a state mandated three year revaluation of all parcels in the town effective for the Fiscal Year 2005.  

The Assessors has a listing of the new assessments available to all taxpayers for inspection in the Assessors’ office at Town Hall at any time during regular office hours.

PROPERTY REVALUATION & TAX RATE INFORMATION 
FOR THE TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE – FY2005

REVALUATION FACTS / NOTES:

- Cities and Towns are required to update their assessed values every three years in the State of Massachusetts.  Recently, a state mandate will now require every community in the State of Massachusetts to do an “interim year” adjustment using the property sales in the community on a yearly basis.  This could potentially result in a valuation change every year, but the percent change from the old value to the new value will be significantly lower in an adjustment from year-to-year.  The Town of Stockbridge will implement this new mandate for Fiscal Year 2006.

- The new assessments are based on real estate sales that took place in calendar year 2003.  It is the responsibility of the Assessor’s Office to value real estate at fair and full market value.  The property values for Fiscal Year 2005 are at 100% of market value.

- When comparing your assessment to another property, you must be comparing it to the same construction style (ex. ranch, cape, mod/cont) as your own property.  You must also remember that no two properties are alike and there are many factors that make up the final assessments.

- It is important to remember that the location of your property in town will affect the valuation on your property.  There are locations that the Assessors feel are either more desirable or less desirable than your location.  These factors are called Site Indexes or Neighborhood Codes.  For Fiscal Year 2005, there were changes made to the land values as well as the building values. Several Site Index changes were made on different streets and the factors for these site indexes were changed as well.

TAX RATE FACTS / NOTES:

- When the Town’s total assessed valuation increases, it usually means that the tax rate will decrease.  Although increases in the Town’s budget and decreases in the Town’s revenues may not allow the tax rate to decrease as low as the process would allow.  Note:  For Fiscal Year 2005, the Town of Stockbridge’s total property valuation was increased by $309,555,400.  It is expected that the Town’s tax rate will decrease significantly.

- The increase in your tax bill for Fiscal Year 2005 may also reflect the portion of the “Raise and Appropriate”  Articles that were voted in at the Town Meeting in May of this year.  There are two major projects that the Town’s people are beginning to pay for: the Sewer Expansion Project and the New School Project.

- The Town is scheduling the tax bills to be sent out in the month of December. This may change if the tax rate setting is delayed at the State level.

APPEAL PROCESS ON VALUATION:

- If you feel that the assessed valuation applied to your property is excessive and would like to file an appeal, you need to wait until the Fiscal Year 2005 tax bill has been issued.  You can then request an abatement application from the Assessor’s Office.  If you have a recent appraisal on your property it would be beneficial to include it  with the abatement application.