A. The Town of Merrimack is undergoing a valuation update for 2021. Can you explain this a little bit?

All properties in Town have been visited over the past several years by Town staff. This ensures the data that is used to compute the assessment is accurate. All taxpayers are encouraged to review their data online when it becomes available. We hate to say that errors exist but it is inherent and I wouldn’t want errors to perpetuate. Taxpayers share an obligation to ensure the data that will ultimately drive their assessment is accurate. The next step is analyzing all of the sales data in Town. Only arm’s length, qualified sales transactions are used – this means good sales where no relationship between parties exist, no bank sales, foreclosures or short sales are relied upon. These are typically sold at below market conditions and should not be the basis for a fair market value opinion. Once all of the sales are analyzed, a model is created based on that info. The model is comprised of base land and building values. The Town is driven parcel by parcel and field reviewed to ensure all of the info used to analyze the sales is then consistently applied throughout the Town. Oftentimes people see the Assessor out driving around during this process and because we aren’t visiting each home during this timeframe they assume we are doing a "drive-by assessment". Remember, this isn’t the case as the homes have been visited previously even if you don’t remember seeing someone.