Laurie A. Ortolano Trust v. City of Nashua
Docket Nos.: 29472-18PT/29699-19PT
Page 3 of 18
The City, represented by Steven A. Bolton, Corporation Counsel, and Celia K. Leonard,
Deputy Corporation Counsel, argued the assessments were proper because:
(1) the Property was sold to the Taxpayer in January, 2014 for $725,000, was originally listed for
sale with an asking price of $800,000 (rounded) and the $725,000 sale price is a good indication
of the Property’s market value;
(2) Ms. Ortolano did not dispute the $725,000 sale price and did not apply for an abatement in
any tax year prior to 2018;
(3) the City Appraisals (Municipality Ex. A in both the 2018 and 2019 appeals) estimate the
market value of the Property was $750,000 as of the April 1, 2018 assessment date and $800,000
as of the April 1, 2019 assessment date and these estimates by Vern J. Gardner, Jr., a certified
general appraiser who testified in support of his analyses and value opinions at the hearing, are
indicative of the proportionality of the assessments;
(4) there are “irregularities” and “deficiencies” in the Taxpayer Appraisals and the person who
signed them, Peter E. Stanhope of the Stanhope Group, LLC, did not attend the hearings and it is
not clear how much, or how little, of their content was developed by him rather than by an
associate (David Michaud) who also did not attend the hearing or testify;
(5) Ms. Ortolano’s many criticisms of the City’s employees and its assessing contractor, as well
as its assessing methodology, do not have merit and are not relevant to the Taxpayer’s claims for
abatements; and
(6) the City, through its Board of Assessors, abated the tax year 2018 assessment, no further
abatements are warranted and the appeals should be denied.
The board has responded to the City’s “Request for Findings of Fact and Ruling of Law”
(the “Requests”) for each tax year in Addendum A to this Decision.
