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Date: 1/2/2024
SOUTHAMPTON — There wasn’t much holiday cheer to report, just before Christmas, when Darcy Gasparini, chair of the Board of Assessors, reported her department was hampered by a shortage of staff in the office.
“Between 2000 and 2018, the town’s residential housing inventory increased by 15% and yet the Assessors Office has not been able to keep up with staffing to completely fulfill its primary mandate to value all private and commercial real estate,” Gasparini said.
According to the Board of Assessors page on the town website, the department is losing or already down a member at every level, from administrative assistant to the principal assessor and a board member. A board member with exceptional knowledge passed away in January, resulting in a “major void,” Gasparini said, in the board’s expertise. Another board member has been limited due to personal issues.
Gasparini told Select Board members they tried to fill the position. Two people came for a meeting. Both declined the job as it was technically beyond their abilities. As a result, the existing board members have put in many more hours than volunteers should be contributing.
Complicating the search process, Janine Domina, the department’s administrative assistant, will be retiring on Jan. 11. Domina is currently training her replacement, formerly a paralegal. The daily correspondence and desk work will take more time as the new assistant gets her feet wet.
Even with a new assistant, board members are getting crushed.
“The board can’t continue doing what we’ve been doing,” Gasparini said. “We are missing stuff. We’re trying to keep our heads above water and meet our mandates.”
Holyoke Waterworks is one example of a property missed by the Assessors office. Gasparini said Holyoke Waterworks was missed by someone, quite awhile ago, and paid a very low tax rate for 15 years. That revenue was lost by the town. That may clarify why the department’s priority over the next six months, for Gasparini, is to hire a principal assessor.
A new hire may take a significant increase in the pay rate. Gasparini researched the pay scale for principal assessors. The current pay rate in Southampton is $60,000. The typical salary range is $79,000 to $110,000, depending on qualifications.
“If we don’t meet the salaries nobody will want to come here to work,” Gasparini said. “We’re not competitive.”
Jon Lumbra, a member of the Select Board, commented on the ripple effect in town salaries.
“At $90,000, that’s $10,000 less than we’re offering the fire chief … [If we] give him another $30,000 and don’t increase anyone else, we’re going to have a difficulty,” Lumbra said.
Gasparini offered the board an alternative staffing tree for the office. She suggested that a part-time principal assessor, hired for 24 hours a week, coupled with an administrative assessor, also hired on a part-time basis, would be an alternative to a six figure assessors salary. She wasn’t aware of any grants to defray the new costs.
Department members drafted a job description. They were told no hire can be made until a report on staffing issues by the Collins Center is delivered. An attempt was made to hire an assessor full-time, early in 2023, at $60,000. No success. Gasparini included the departmental budgets, going back to 2012, for the board’s comparison.
The position, Select Board Chair Christine Fowles said, “paid $65,000 in 2014 and we’re far away from that.”
Another reason a principal assessor is a key for the town, going forward, is the possibility of a split tax rate. The Board of Assessors will consider a split tax rate that allows for a different rate for commercial and residential real estate. Gasparini said the town may be losing substantial revenues from commercial properties.
“How big an issue is valuing the commercial property and how much of a swing effect do you get?” asked Stephen Thor Johnson, a selectboard member.
“Our commercial and industrial is undervalued,” Gasparini said. “As far as the split tax rate, it doesn’t change the amount of money coming into the town, just where it comes from… That’s why we need the pro to come in.”
The new assessor will revalue the commercial real estate in town in anticipation of a split tax rate. Gasparini said other newly discovered tax income, finished basements and new sheds, would help fund the assessor’s higher salary. Split tax rates also tend to be heralded by residential homeowners because commercial real estate then tends to bring in an increased percentage of total tax revenues.
The department is putting out fires, the chair said, and working too many hours to meet the basic requirements of the state. The primary responsibility at the moment has been taken care of. The interim principal assessor, David Zagorsky, who works two days a week, and other department members, have gotten the tax rate certified for 2025 and the tax bills are ready to go out.