Graham, Donna
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From: Laurie Ortolano
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2022 1:07 PM
To: Graham, Donna
Subject: Re: Interest Paid for Abatement Appeals not settled expeditiously
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Donna,
Could you please place this email into the upcoming Board Packet and could you provide it to the Budget
committee packet as well.
Good Morning,
I have been concerned with Nashua's ability to settle abatement appeals in a timely manner such that the costs to
taxpayers are minimized. As of 2022, late interest payment is 6%; legislation was passed this year to reduce the
interest payment to 4% for years beyond 2022,
I have tried to follow these abatement appeals since I began attending Board of Assessor meetings in 2019. 1
filed an abatement in 2018 that ended up going to a full appeal and settled in 2021. The City paid me about
$450 in interest payments over 2018-2021 and this is a relatively low amount because it was a residential
property, but for commercial property, the interest payment for running out abatement appeals 3-5 years, is
costly to taxpayers.
The interest payments are not the only costs. The legal departments' deliberate drag out of these appeals is
inefficient and costly to the staff.
In speaking an official in Manchester, that city cleans up all their abatement and appeals as quickly as possible.
I learned several weeks ago that 2021 abatements (which were filed by March 1, 2022) are their primary
workload. There were only four 2020 abatement appeals to settle and these were court involved. The assessing
office handles all their appraisal internally for ALL commercial properties (Mall, hotels, etc).
Attached are the 2020-2022 Overlay account summaries for abatements and abatement appeals.
In 2020, the City paid $16,700 in interest for 2017 and 2018 abatement appeals. In 2021, the City paid
$167,000 in interest for 2017 and 2018 abatement appeals. And in 2022, the City paid $145,000 in 2017, 2018
and 2019 in interest penalty. Over $300,000 in interest penalties have been paid to settle long standing
abatement appeals. Someone should question why we are unable to do better. This appears to be Nashua's
practice before 2018.
Attached are the 2020-2022 Overlay Analysis Reports filtered for 2017 and 2018 payments.
Laurie Ortolano
41 Berkeley St
Nashua
