For tax year 2014, all Andover property values will be updated to market value as of April 1, 2014. With the real estate market fluctuating over the past few years, many of you will see your property values decrease; however, some may see them increase. Just because some values decrease, this does not mean that your taxes will decrease.

Taxes are based on the combined budgets for the Town, school and county. The tax rate is determined by taking those budgets divided by the overall value of the Town to arrive at a tax rate that will raise enough money to “pay the bills.”

As you may recall, the front page headline from the April Beacon read “Town Meetings Pass 2014 Budgets – Budgets rise 3.7%; Taxes could rise 10%.” Unfortunately, there is no way to determine the impact of the update until after the values are finalized and until after the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) calculates the total amount of money needed to “pay the bills.” That process takes place in the fall, usually in October, with the Town’s tax rate the end result.

Enough about taxes, let’s get back to the update. As part of this process, Avitar assessing staff members have visited every Andover property that sold in the past two years to verify that the physical data is accurate. This is important, as the sale properties become the basis for the new values.

If you have not already received one, very soon every Andover property owner will get in the mail a notice of the new value of their property. Should you have any questions, the notice will include a phone number that you can call to arrange to meet with an Avitar representative to discuss your assessment.

Instructions will also be provided to access the online database and review the information about your property and every other property in Andover, including the sale properties that were used to help establish the new values.

As part of this process, the DRA has some oversight responsibilities, which include visiting those sale properties to verify data accuracy and monitoring the hearing process. Once the update has been completed later in the summer, Avitar will deliver to the Town a manual that describes the process in detail. The DRA will also review that manual for compliance with applicable state law.

If at the end of the process you have any further questions or concerns, they should be addressed through the abatement process once you have received your tax bill in the fall.