Taxpayers Association Concerned About 'Ailing' Town Assessing System

The following is a press release from the Framingham Taxpayers Association:

Frustrated by the chronic delay in reforming the Town’s assessing practices, a leading Framingham tax organization is now taking the initiative by proposing concrete changes in the system.

These recommendations for remedial action will soon be made during a public education conference sponsored by the Framingham Taxpayers Association on Saturday, April 11 at Heritage Senior Living -- 747 Water Street -- beginning at 2 pm.

This conference is a direct outgrowth of the two town-wide meetings held by the Framingham Taxpayers Association following the bitter public uproar over the unprecedented property tax hikes imposed in 2012.

The current program will feature a non-partisan agenda and panel of speakers reflecting a broad spectrum of public opinion. Since the FTPA stresses fairness and balance in its public outreach, the Town’s Administration and the Chamber of Commerce, have also been invited to express their positions. “We’ll all benefit if they both attend, and we look forward to hearing their views”, said Framingham Taxpayers Association Chair Enzo Rotatori,.

The conference will lead off with an analysis of what went wrong in 2012, the proposed 2015-2016 budget and projected town levies and tax rates for the residential and commercial sectors, to name a few areas to help set up the flow of the presentations.

There will also be a review of how the Worcester City Assessor successfully resolved a problem common to Framingham: special discounts to specific commercial and industrial companies.

Worcester called them “manual overrides” and the speaker will discuss how Worcester’s action in revamping those overrride practices could be relevant to Framingham.

Detailed recommendations will also be provided based on the reports made by an ad hoc committee and a consultant company (brought in by the Administration) on how to introduce efficiencies and more transparency and accountability into the assessing practices. While the recommendations were made in 2012, the Association contends that the Administration has never provided to Town Meeting the promised review on how it complied.

Town Meeting passed an article requiring such action at the 2014 Annual Meeting. And there are said to be 17 of the 20 questions raised still unresolved.

The final segment of the conference will offer concrete actions for Town Meeting members to pursue at both the upcoming Annual Meeting and then a Special Town Meeting. There will also be commentary on a civil action in the Massachusetts Superior Court pertaining to assessing procedures, the result of which could affect the entire Commonwealth.

Like the previous meetings, there will a panel of presenters which will field questions from the audience as well as from each other. The purpose: to encourage all sectors of Framingham to talk to each other outside the rigidity of governance and politics, and get agreement on how to reverse the threatening downward financial spiral.

Panelists to include:

• Enzo Rotatori, former vice president of marketing for Christy’s Markets; founder of the Framingham Taxpayers Association and former Town Meeting member.
• Ginger Esty: Selectman; former chair of the Board of Public Works, Town Meeting, and member of numerous regional and state commissions
• Deborah Butler: Town Meeting Member; tax attorney with two degrees from Boston University School of Law, and an accredited private attorney for disabled veterans.
• Larry Schmeidler, McGraw-Hill International editor; public relations; alumni officer, University of Michigan; Town Meeting Member and former chair of TM Standing Committee on Public Works.

Mission of the Framingham Taxpayers Association is to:

• Advocate for fiscally responsible, cost-effective town government
• Work to assure that the interests of Framingham taxpayers are represented in all town deliberations that affect property taxes.
• Identify candidates for town offices who share our goals
• Oppose any attempt to override limits set by Prop 21/2, except in the direst of circumstances