Common Sense For New Hampshire

I thought we got into the weeds a little when discussing the missed opportunity for owners of Sandy-damaged homeowners to have their houses reassessed for the period when they where actually not worth as much due to the damage they suffered.  Aside from stating that it was borough tax assessor Ed Mullane who made the decision to cull so many addresses from the list, the mayor and administrator mentioned that many homeowners received other forms of aid instead.  Jim Bean correctly pointed out that that the aid only went to residents and not owners of summer homes, and my running mate Tom Burke has pointed out that the aid was never meant to be a substitute for tax fairness.

You see, the county program was not about helping people.  It was about following the tax laws.  We pay property tax based on the value of our homes.  If for some period of time the value of someone’s house was reduced, the tax they pay for that period should go down as well.

Anyway, there may be some hope for the folks who paid too much tax in the early months of this year.  Councilman Bean has scheduled a conference call with some county officials to see if the taxes for that period can be adjusted retroactively.  While it’s too late to inspect these properties because at this point most of them have already been fixed, the owners may be able to use other evidence showing the extent of the damage, such as photographs, videos, or receipts for the repairs done.  Hopefully we’ll have some good news to report.