Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/12/2018 - P3
Board of Aldermen 09-12-2018 Page 3
is not right or that the assessment of some of their neighbors is too low and we have gotten that and you
may hear that tonight actually, there is a process to follow which is to go to a KRT meeting, one of which is
being held tonight in Ward 5, lay out the facts and ask them to review your property or the other property
that you want them to look at and they will do that. They are moving through the Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9 but you can go to another Ward, you know they are trying to get mostly people from each Ward to go to
that meeting so that works most efficiently but you can go to any one.
Ultimately, they will look at your property, the City Assessors will review it and ultimately if you still disagree
there is a process of an abatement request that can be formally made, then the Board of Assessors will
review. If you don’t agree with their conclusion, you can appeal to the Board of Land & Tax Appeals or to the
Superior Court. This is laid out in State Law. And | have tried to make it clear to anyone who has raised this
and there have been certainly a few people that we as elected officials cannot get involved. |, as Mayor, in
two terms before and one term now, | have never intervened in any single assessment case. Why?
Because this cannot be a political process, it has to be based upon the facts, a very complicated set of
criteria which the assessors apply.
It has to be based upon the merits of each case, we cannot have a situation of where if you talk to the Mayor
or you talk to the right Alderman you get lower taxes. That would undermine the complete integrity of the
system, mistakes can be made but those mistakes will be good faith mistakes and not based upon who you
know, or who you are or anything like that based upon the objective evaluation of KRT, of the assessment
people, the Board of Assessors and the Land & Tax Appeal or the Superior Court.
So | know that was a little long but | think it is a matter of great concern to the community and | think we
need to make it clear that everybody is doing their best to give everyone a fair hearing to make sure that all
taxes are based upon fair market value and that this is not a process where the Board of Aldermen or the
Mayor or individual Aldermen can intervene to try to influence an individual assessment either the
assessment of the person who is complaining or an assessment down the street that they think is wrong.
Finally, | thank you for not giving me the hook Mr. President and finally, Saturday we have the multi-cultural
festival at the Elm Street Middle School, which | think will be great. We have a lot of different cultures
coming in with food and entertainment from 12 to 4. | hope everybody who has any free time that day can
consider trying to attend. That’s all | have Mr. President.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
Alderman Lopez
| just wanted to echo the sentiment of appreciation towards City Clerk Piecuch and her staff. | know
Ward 4 had a particularly large turnout for a State primary and there were some new moderators and
clerks, but she shepherded them through it and | just wanted to express that appreciation.
| also wanted to acknowledge that this was a pretty conservative budget season and | raised some
objections to maybe it was a little too stark in terms of some programs that were addressing our most
needy. But it was through the leadership of President McCarthy and Alderman Dowd that assured us
that we were on the right track and there was a purpose for this and | think without that leadership we
would not have a plan with all of the property revaluations. The sticker shock that is being, that you
know property owners are feeling right now was something we were warned about, we were planning
for, so | appreciate that.
Also | wanted to thank the Mayor for his comments regarding the tannery and willingness to meet with
the neighbors tomorrow.
