New Bedford City Councilors oppose fining property owners ignoring Assessors

NEW BEDFORD — For most of the past 30 years, owners of income-producing properties have received a form from city Assessors asking them to list their property's income and expenses.

And for most of the past 30 years, about three quarters of those requests are ignored.

In the past year, the city tried something new to compel more compliance.

A fine allowed by state law was implemented.

Residential owners of four-unit or larger properties were fined $50 for not returning the completed form within 60 days.

And commercial property owners were fined $250 for failing to respond within the 60-day period.

Change generates complaints to council

Compliance didn't improve much — it still hovered around 25% — but the change did generate complaints about the fines that were aired by the City Council Finance Committee Monday.

Robert Ekstrom, city chief financial officer, said 3,125 forms were sent out and about 700 came back.

That means about 2,400 fines were assessed.

Ekstrom, though, said the city was more interested in getting the information than the money.

The information is needed in order to properly assess the income-generating real estate.

"All we really want is compliance," he said.

Assessors agreed to abate the fine in this first year, he added, if the property owners relented and filled out the form. Only about 60 did so.

"The others decided not to. They didn't want to disclose the information, basically," he said.

Property owners don't want to provide information

Judith Serdahl, acting administrative manager to the Board of Assessors, said, "If we don't receive this information, we can't do an accurate assessment."

But, she said, these recalcitrant property owners often don't want the city to know their income and expenses.

"They just choose not to file this. This has been traditional in the 30 years I've been here," she said.

The fines are not changing the behavior, at least not in the first year.

They would just rather pay the $50 or $250 fines, she said, which are cheaper than the accounting fees.

The information is needed now more than ever with rents skyrocketing in the city, Serdahl said.

"I remember 20 years ago $500 a month was a lot for rent. Now $2,100 is market. So how can we calculate what the assessment should be if we don't know what these people are receiving in rent and what they're paying in expenses?"

Fines called a 'money grab'

Councilor Ryan Pereira was outspoken in his opposition to the process. "I don't like it at all. I think it's a money grab. It smells fishy."

He said residential property owners affected would rather pay the $50 because they think complying will lead to higher taxes.

Councilor Linda Morad said her phone was ringing off the hook with complaints from residential property owners.

"It's the penalties this year that people are screaming and yelling about," she said.

She added they feel it's personal information they don't want to divulge.

"You're basically asking people for personal information so you can assess what their taxes are going to be," she said.

Process has 'nothing to do with taxes'

Serdahl said, "This has nothing to do with taxes. This is so we can get an accurate assessment on property values. It's to determine assessed value based on the market, based on the rents they're receiving, based on the expenses they have."

Councilors were posed with two motions by Pereira, one to send a letter to Assessors opposing the entire process of sending out the forms, and a second to send a letter simply opposing the fines.

The first motion passed 7-4 so the second wasn't taken up. Councilors then voted to table the issue until the Assessors respond.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford City Councilors question need for new Assessor fines