BRISTOL — Hundreds of Bristol residents have appealed their properties' new assessed values since the town sent out notices of the changes about two weeks ago. And if the daily rate of appeals holds true, workers from Clipboard Inc., the town's revaluation contractor, will field 325 by the time the hearings end next Friday.

Bristol Tax Assessor Evelyn Spagnolo said Wednesday that it's been a busy week around her office, and she's dealt with more than a few upset residents who aren't convinced that their buildings and land have risen in value as much as they've been informed. The highest increase? The 94 Kickemuit Ave. home of Charles and Pamela Patterson, which skyrocketed in value from $163,800 to $644,260 — a 293-percent jump.

"There's a lot of people who are concerned," said Ms. Spagnolo.

One of those angry Bristolians is Cedar Drive resident George Almeida, who lives in a tidy ranch house that he build in 1973. He's got no plans to leave, sell or expand, but his property increased in value $85,000 — nearly 33 percent — under the reval.

One of the first things he did after reading the notice from the town was call and schedule a hearing, which was held Monday.

"It's ridiculous," said Mr. Almeida, who was so upset that he threatned to call television stations after a recent visit to the Phoenix office.

"They're taxing everyone out of Bristol," he said. "What about the people who don't plan to sell, like me? What about people on fixed incomes? It doesn't add up."

James Casalegno agrees.

The Acacia Road resident isn't an expert on property valuation, but he said he knows a thing or two about computers and thinks the computer programs valuators used to help determine the new assessments is flawed.

"It has to be," he said. "It's arbitrary" when one sees one property go up one amount and then a neighboring property that may share a fence go up substantially more.

"On my property, it's about 12,000 square feet, and I think the revaluation on the structure was probably fair. But the land went up substantially. If you look at some vacant lots, they're going up 70 percent. I'm presuming the bulk of the increases went up on the land."

Ms. Spagnolo said that's the case, as the value of buildable land in Bristol has risen significantly in recent years.

Public hearing

To quell confusion and anger over how the town conducted the revaluation, Bristol officials have scheduled a public hearing for next Tuesday, May 6, at Bristol Town Hall. The hour-long meeting begins at 7 p.m., and officials from the town and Clipboard Inc. will be on hand to answer questions.

Ms. Spagnolo said the forum will be a question and answer session to explain the revaluation process, particularly for those wondering why their values increased more than their neighbors'. She said most valuation increases are due to land value increases, not structure increases.

"But some owners' values went up because of the home improvements they made since last time," she said.

Clipboard representative Owen Hardnet said valuations are also based on how the real estate market has been in given neighborhoods or assessed zones. He said Clipboard assessors divided Bristol into about 20 different zones or neighborhoods and looked at sales, mainly from 2007, to find each home's "correct market value."

Ms. Spagnolo and Mr. Hardnet released no information about value changes that may have occurred after appeals or re-assessments. They said that information will be available when letters are mailed after the appeal process is complete.

By Ted Hayes and Jeremy Rosen

jrosen@eastbaynewspapers.com