The new year brought a change to Barrington's approach to conducting property assessments. 

Last year, Barrington Tax Assessor Michael Minardi adopted a new approach to conducting property assessments, adjusting properties based on their sales prices instead of waiting for the three-year statistical revaluation. 

The change, which was based on a RI Supreme Court decision, was met with some opposition, mainly from people who purchased their homes last year and were surprised to find that their assessments had been changed in a non-revaluation year; about three-quarters of the altered assessments increased over the prior year's figures. 

But on Friday morning, Jan. 3, Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha reported that Mr. Minardi had abandoned the policy from 2019 and will revert to the typical revaluation process.

"I didn't direct Mike to do this," said Mr. Cunha. "This was Mike's decision."

Mr. Cunha said a legal review of the town's prior assessment policy did not clearly determine whether the approach was acceptable or not. The manager said there is a valid legal argument that states the prior policy was correct. He added that there's also a valid legal argument that states the policy was incorrect.

"This has been very difficult," Mr. Cunha said. 

The town manager issued a press release on Jan. 3 announcing the change, stating that the assessments made last year will remain, although there is an appeals process.

"2019 assessments will remain at the same level as 2018 assessments except for properties that have had physical alterations during 2019 or have had the assessment changed on appeal to the Tax Assessor or the Board of Assessment Review," stated the release. 

Mr. Cunha said the town is scheduled to conduct a statistical revaluation on all properties in 2020. 

The manager said he also plans to present the town council with a proposed resolution that would support state legislation allowing for statistical revaluations every year instead of every three years. Currently, that is how Massachusetts conducts its revaluations.

"Mr. Minardi and I agree that this is the fairest method for assessing property values and ensuring residents are paying their fair share of the town’s financial requirements," said Mr. Cunha. 

Appeals down from last year

Despite the outcry over the town's prior change to the assessments policy, there were actually fewer real estate appeals filed than in 2018. Mr. Minardi said that there were 57 appeals filed in 2019, including two for personal property. That means there were 55 real estate appeals.

"Last year (2018) I had 71 appeals," Mr. Minardi wrote in a recent email. 

The deadline to file an application to appeal an assessment was Dec. 30, 2019. 

"I expected there to be more (appeals)," said Mr. Cunha.

Mr. Minardi will review the appeals and determine whether to adjust the assessments. Residents can appeal Mr. Minardi's decisions to the town's board of assessment review.