Local Politics:Issues:Real Estate Tax Assessment

Local level - Lexington

News

• Lexington Minuteman: Town officials explain commercial assessments in Lexington, by Ben Aaronson (Aug 12, 2010)
• Lexington Minuteman: Assessing a situation, by Ian B. Murphy (Aug 14, 2008)

Lexington documents and data

• Assessors Online Database, Registry of Deeds and Geographic Information System (GIS) for Lexington, MA
• Lexington Tax Statistics 1962-2013, by Andrei Radulescu-Banu (May 22, 2013). Based on MA IRS data and Lexington annual town reports.
• Town of Lexington Tax Classification Packets:
  • FY2014 Tax Classification Packet (note that this packet has an unpublished correction for the total property assessed in FY14)
  • FY2013 Tax Classification Packet
  • FY2012 Tax Classification Packet
• Large Commercial and Industrial Properties (2013), complete spreadsheet extract from the Online Assessor Database
• Overview of the Commercial and Industrial Property Assessment Process, by Steve Foster (Jan 13, 2011)
  • Reanalysis of Data in Foster Presentation, by Andrei Radulescu-Banu (May 23, 2013)
  • Reassessing assessment - another look at the Steve Foster presentation (May 2013)
• MA DoR: Lexington At A Glance Report (2011)
• Lexington Commercial Properties Assessed Well Below Their Sale Price, by Patrick Mehr (2011)
• Lexington Commercial Zone. Analysis and Build Out Study, by the Cecil Group and by GLC Development Resources (July 15, 2008)
  • Lexington Large Commercial Properties (2008), spreadsheet extract from Cecil Group/GLC Development Resources 2008 report
• Town Meeting action:
  • 2011 Annual Town Meeting minutes, Article 37 (Commercial Assessments Citizen Motion) and Article 38 (Residential Assessments Citizen Motion), moved by Patrick Mehr and not adopted by Town Meeting
  • 2009 Annual Town Meeting Articles 44-46, moved by the Planning Board and adopted by Town Meeting. These are zoning amendments that establish the Transportation Management Overlay District.
• Evaluation of Proposition 2 1/2. Report of the Tax Policy Committee (Sept 29, 1980) recommending a No vote on Prop 2 1/2.

Lex-Tmma threads on tax classification, assessment and rates

• Lexington large commercial + industrial properties http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/17908 (June 2013)
• History of Massachusetts Tax Classification -- Good Resource http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/17703 (May 2013)
• History of Massachusetts Tax Classification http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/17691 (May 2013)
• Another T.I.F. under consideration? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/17610 (May 2013)
• Town officials rush to help businesses - but not to tax them fairly… http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/17593 (Apr 2013)
• Starwood Hotel Property Sale: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/16974 (Feb 2013)
• Assessments - articles 37 & 38: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lex-tmma/message/13686 (Mar 2011)

State level - Massachusetts

Assessors online databases

• Arlington
• Bedford
• Billerica
• Burlington
• Cambridge
• Chelmsford
• Concord
  • Complete Concord 2013 Assessment rolls (Excel)
• Lexington
  • Complete Lexington 2013 Assessment rolls (Excel)
• Lincoln (sales information only)
• Waltham
• Woburn
  • Complete Woburn 2013 Assessment rolls (Excel)

Massachusetts documents

• MA DoR Assessment Administration: Law Procedures and Valuation Course 101 Handbook
• MA DoR Assessment Certification and Field Review Manual
• MA DoR Certification Standards
• MA FY2005 - 2011 Multi-Year At-A-Glance Report
• History of Massachusetts Tax Classification, by John Bartenstein (May 16, 2013). References:
  • Opinion of the Justices, 378 Mass. 802 (1979)
  • Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue 378 Mass. 657 (1979)
  • Town of Sudbury v. Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation, 366 Mass. 558 (1974)
  • Bettingole vs. Assessors Of Springfield, 343 Mass. 223 (1961)
• Selected ATB tax appeal decisions:
  • USAA Properties v. Chelmsford (Dec 5, 2012)
  • 540 Taunton, LLC v. Taunton (Oct 12, 2012)
  • Fawcett St Associates v. Cambridge (Jun 30, 2008)
  • Cambridge Park 125 Realty Corp. and Cambridge Park 150 Realty Corp. v. Cambridge (June 13, 2008)

Massachusetts Prop 2 1/2: News and Commentary

• CommonWealth Magazine: The Odd Proposition, by Dave Denison (1996). This is an even handed op-ed explaining some of the history behind Prop 2 1/2.
• CommonWealth Magazine: A Tale of Eight Cities and Towns, by David Tyler (Aug 1, 1996)
• Boston Globe Sunday Magazine: Massachusetts makes a comeback. What is responsible for the state's amazing comeback? Would you believe Proposition 2 1/2?, by Charles Kenney (May 18, 1986)

Massachusetts Prop 2 1/2: Academic Papers and References

• Property Tax Limits and Local Fiscal Behavior: Did Massachusetts Cities and Towns Spend Too Little on Town Services under Proposition 2.5, by Katharine Bradbury, Christopher J. Mayer, Karl E. Case (Feb 1997 version)
• Shifting Property Tax Burdens in Massachusetts, by Katharine Bradbury, New England Economic Review, Sept-Oct 1988, p. 36-48.

Massachusetts Local Taxes - News and Commentary

• CommonWealth Magazine: Shifting the burden, by Jack Sullivan (Jan 13, 2011)

Federal level and other US States

US States documents

• NY State DoR survey on Ratio Studies in various US States (1995)
• International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) Standard on Ratio Studies
• Commercial Real Estate market reporting and analysis companies which publish periodic reports on market conditions, including in MA Metro North West:
  • Jones Lang LaSalle
  • Grub Ellis

Books and References

• Fundamentals of Tax Policy, by Richard Almy, Alan Dornfest and Daphne Kenyon, (2008), published by the IAAO. This volume is one of the few if not the only explaining in detail how tax policy works at the local, state and federal level. There's also information on how property taxes evolved since colonial times. The volume is replete with statistics and state by state comparisons.
• The Appraisal of Real Estate, Twelfth Edition (2001), published by the Appraisal Institute. There is a newer edition of the same book on the market, and one should be cognisant of small differences between editions. The 2001 edition, however, sells for pennies on the dollar at Amazon. This book is essential for who wants to understand the minute details and algorithmic steps of the appraisal process.
• The worst tax? A history of the property tax in America, by G.W Fisher (1996). This is focused on the state of Kansas, following it for 200 years, with commentary on how other states compare to Kansas. The modern situation is presented, albeit very brief.
• Proposition 13: A ten-year retrospective, by F.B. Stocker, ed. (1991) - about tax revolt in California at the end of the 1970s.
• Property Tax Assessment Limits. Lessons from Thirty Years of Experience, by Mark Haveman and Terri A. Sexton, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (2008)
• Types of property tax and assessment limitations and tax relief programs, by Nikolai Mikhailov, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (1998)

Secrecy of Income Tax Returns

• Secrecy of Income Tax Returns, Brief No. 1, prepared by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library (June 1953)