List: Boot Assessor, Send Info Before Deadline …

Get the Board of Assessment Appeals out of the assessor’s office. Give assessors a digital camera so they can prove properties look like they say they do. Mail out senior tax freeze brochures before the application deadline rather than after. And, above all, get rid of Bill O’Brien, the city tax assessor.

Those were some of the recommendations before the Board of Aldermen’s Tax Abatement Committee Monday evening as it considered how to reform both the tax assessor’s office and the Board of Assessment Appeals.

The suggestions were discussed in the aldermanic chamber as part of the regular meeting of the Tax Abatement Committee. The list of suggestions was tabled for voting at a meeting to be held next Monday. The committee will then refer some or all of the recommendations to the full Board of Aldermen, where they will be sent to the appropriate committees for further discussion.

Read the list here. Aldermen made a few additional suggestions after that list was distributed on Monday night.

Monday night’s recommendations came after months of probing by the committee, which has been investigating numerous taxpayer complaints about alleged assessment and appeals misconduct and incompetence. Taxpayers have complained of mistaken and capricious value adjustments and rude behavior from staff. Alderman uncovered possible nepotism on the appeals board, the members of which resigned and been replaced. Read about all of it here. 

The committee considered the reforms in addition to its regular agenda Monday. Read background on the agenda here.

During the public testimony section of the meeting, the board heard more tales of an impenetrable, unhelpful, and incompetent assessor’s office, which Chair Alderman Smart interpreted as further evidence that reforms are needed and that O’Brien should be given the boot.

For instance, East Havener Michael Reyes laid out a year-long quest to register his new Saab. He was prevented from doing that because it came up that he owed back taxes in New Haven, he told the committee. He persevered through brush-offs from the assessor’s office and got some of the taxes erased, only to find that the assessor had discovered more he owed, Reyes said. Faced with and explanation from the assessor’s office that sounded like ​“Einstein numbers and waves” Reyes has been driving his Saab without registration for a year, he said.

Aldermen unveiled a list of 30 reform recommendations and added a few more during the meeting.

At the top of the list is the removal of O’Brien. Smart said after the meeting the the Board of Aldermen could not do that on its own, but it could vote to urge the administration to do it.

Mayor DeStefano continued to defend O’Brien at a separate meeting with East Rock’s management team Monday night. He said the office had made some errors, which his administration is addressing.

“Look, I think Bill O’Brien did some things wrong, and I think he got largely a bum rap, and I’ll argue with anybody about that,” DeStefano told the management team. ​“I tell Bill O’Brien to be aggressive. We’re aggressive on property tax collections; we were at 86 percent collection rate; we’re holding at 98.2, and we’re aggressive about it. Bill is aggressive. Particularly with some of the classes of what was tax-exempt, that could have been better done, and I actually think some of the interpersonal transactions, as I’ve discussed with him, could have been better done. That said, I’m not going to say that property values are subjective, but I will promise you that everybody in downtown is going to appeal their property tax evaluation, no matter what it is.”

Smart said he has no confidence in O’Brien and said he found it ​“disrespectful” that the assessor did not show at Monday’s meeting or send a representative.

Smart also announced that aldermen will be filing an ethics complaint to start a full investigation of the possibility of nepotism on the appeals board. He said he wasn’t sure what they outcome of that would be, given that the appeals board members involved have now resigned.

Other highlights of the recommendation list:

• The assessor should reside in New Haven. Alderman Darnell Goldson added a recommendation that the city define ​“residency” since it is required for some city positions, but not defined.
• ​“Readjust all appeal assessments in ​‘09 back to the ​‘08 assessments — start fresh.”
• Give the Board of Aldermen veto power over appeals board nominees. (Members are currently appointed directly by the mayor.)
• Add an alderman to the appeals board. Add a lawyer.
• The appeals board should not meet in the assessor’s office, as it currently does.
• ​“Zero tolerance for rude and disrespectful treatment towards tax payers” at the assessor’s office. ​“Set up a hot line.”
• Give the Board of Aldermen its own lawyer.

Aldermen added some items to the list during Monday’s meeting, including:

• When an on-site assessment is conducted in the absence of a property owner, the assessor should leave documentation that he was there.
• Assessors should have a digital camera to document what they see during assessments.
• The senior tax freeze program should be retroactive for three years.

The full list includes some items which may need a change of state law, others that will cost unknown amounts of money, and others that could require changes to the city charter. Chairman Smart said the committee will separate the recommendations into appropriate groups before its next meeting, then vote one by one on whether to recommend them to the full board.

The Independent was there, live in City Hall, blogging the action as it unfolded.

Live Blog

6:35 p.m.: Things are quiet so far here in the chamber. A couple of aldermen are seated at the committee table. Jeffrey Granoff, chair of the appeals board, is chatting with Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks. There are about eight people in the gallery.

6:43: Still nothing. The meeting is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start. I hear aldermen in the wings. Now Granoff is talking with Alderman Smart. Hill Alderman Jorge Perez has arrived. A half-dozen more people are taking seats in the audience.

6:52: Aldermen Gerald Antunes and Darnell Goldson have taken their seats. They’re sharing the table with Aldermen Smart, Jackson-Brooks, and Arlene DePino.

6:55: Alderman Smart is calling the meeting to order and reading the agenda.

Alderman Perez is in the audience. Smart adds Antunes, Goldson, and Brooks to the committee for the purpose of a quorum.

First item on the agenda:

Diane Clemons-Jackson takes a seat. She says: My mother is 85 years old. She’s a recent amputee and she’s on dialysis. She can’t afford her taxes.

And she’s through. No questions from the committee.

6:55: Smart skips to Item 3, after the party in Item 2 doesn’t appear. Carmeleta Taylor, of 24 Frances Hunter Dr., and her daughter sit.

Taylor: ​“I ran into some financial difficulties… and I need some help. … I’ve been in and out the hospital.”

Smart: You know that abatement means that the property is liened. Any questions?

Alderman Greg Morehead sits to testify. He’s the alderman in Taylor’s neigborhood. He says: I’m requesting along with Ms. Taylor and her family the abatement of her taxes. She is a model citizen.

Aldermen find a couple of typos to correct.

Goldson: You’re aware that the taxes eventually have to be paid off?

Taylor: Yes.

No further questions. Morehead leaves with his constituents.

7:04: Smart asks for a status update on Item 5, involving Dwight Development Corporation. Aldermen decide to pass the item over.

Kathleen Foster, of the corporation counsel’s office, is called up to speak on Item 6, involving Ryder Truck Rental.

Foster: The trucks were on the supplemental motor vehicle list that the assessor receives from the state. They paid the taxes, then filed for an exemption. The assessor reviewed it with corp counsel and determined that Ryder is due a refund.

Goldson: Ryder had applied for multiple years’ exemption, but it was late? I thought assessor said if it’s late, it’s voided…?

Foster: The conclusion is: they’re entitled to the refund. Maybe the assessor’s office could tell you more.

[Press presence: the Register has arrived. And WTNH.]

Aldermanic staff fills Goldson in on cut-off dates and the timeline of this appeal.

Goldson says he’s unsatisfied: I’m still trying to figure out this timing issue, Mr. Chairman. I suggest we pass this over for now.

Foster takes down a list of what the aldermen would still like to know.

Smart: We’re going to pass over this. It’s a $21,700 refund.

Foster: ​“I’d like to come better prepared.”

Smart: Thank you.

7:16: The meeting moves on to public testimony.

Anthony Wallace is the first on the list. He has ponytail and is wearing a gray suit.

Wallace: In 2009, I fell ill. I was in and out of the hospital. I was a highly paid attorney and then fell on very hard times. My house was foreclosed. My Harley-Davidson was repossessed while I was in the hospital. I filed bankruptcy in January of this year. I received a tax bill for the Harley. I went to the tax assessor’s office, spoke to a nice man with a British accent. A very tall gentleman came over, told me I needed proof of transfer of ownership. I said I couldn’t. He said, very condescendingly, ​“What do you want me to do about it?” and shrugged his shoulders.

Wallace: I wrote to Assessor Bill O’Brien. I got proof that the Harley had been re-possessed. I showed it to the assessor’s office. That was no good. I called O’Brien. I heard nothing. Finally, I spoke to my alderman, Greg Dildine. He forwarded my information to someone. I still never heard from O’Brien. I was forwarded a letter that he’d sent to Dildine.

Wallace reads the letter, which says: The Harley was re-possessed but the re-possessor did not take title, or ownership. There was therefore no proof of transfer of ownership and Wallace is still liable for the taxes.

[Alderwoman Claudette Robinson Thorpe has joined the committee.]

Wallace: I’m a lawyer, but I don’t know all the laws on this. I was never told any of these regulations in any way shape or form. I tried to get documentation and I was unable to. ​“I don’t own the bike. The bike’s gone. … I think I’ve done everything I can.” ​“You don’t see me riding around town in my suit anymore, which was a spectacle.” The way I was treated was unconscionable. I had no communication whatsoever. ​“If I walk into a store and I’m ignored because I’ve got a ponytail and I’m wearing jeans, I walk out.” I can’t do that in this case.

7:29: Antunes: Did you request the license plates from the re-possession agency?

Wallace: I did. The repo guy brushed me off.

Antunes: Did you see if the plates had been returned to DMV?

Wallace: Yes. They hadn’t. I filled out a form reporting them stolen.

Goldson: This National Bankruptcy Services is a repo service?

Wallace: They’re not attorneys. They have nothing to do with courts. They told me they sold the bike at auction but wouldn’t give me any documentation.

[Alderman Charles Blango has arrived and joined the committee. Alderman Dildine is now in the audience.]

Wallace: I don’t know how they got into my locked garage.

7:35: [Alderman Sergio Rodriguez has joined the committee.]

Antunes: They went onto private property to get it?

Wallace: Yes, which is their right.

Smart: We’ve put in a communication on your item and will take it up as soon as it’s assigned to a committee.

Dildine sits to testify. He highlights the poor treatment Wallace received in the assessor’s office.

Goldson: Shouldn’t Assessor O’Brien be going after National Bankruptcy Services, which has the bike?

7:42: Wallace and Dildine stand. The committee calls the next name on the sign-up, Anthony Bell.

Bell sits and takes up the microphone. He’s joined by his wife, Katina Bell. They live on 52 Arch St.

Bell: I bought this property from the city in 2005. [The house is on 137 West St.] I’ve been here twice before. They’ve raised my taxes from $3,000 to $9,000. I filed an appeal with the assessor’s office and we haven’t gotten anywhere.

Smart: You got the house from the city and it was a total rehab?

Katina: Yes, but it’s not done. You can see that from the street. They said they came out and looked at the property. They said there’s a 300-square-foot garage on the property. There hasn’t been one there since they sold the property.

Legislative staff: The assessor’s office emailed me and said they went through it in 2010.

Katina: The city renovated another identical house, and assessed it for half of what they did ours.

[Alderman Carl Goldfield has arrived and is seated in the audience.]

Blango: ​“I just would love an explanation.”

Staff: Apparently, the property has two buildings. That would increase the assessed value.

Blango: But it’s still almost valued at double the other identical house.

Goldson: I remember this couple was here a couple of months ago, with pictures showing that the assessor’s card was wrong. The assessor sat ​“right there next to them” and promised to sort this out.

Anthony: Then never called us.

7:56: Anthony call Smart ​“O’Brien” by accident. ​“I’m not O’Brien,” Smart says quickly. Hilarity ensues. Big laughs. Anthony apologizes, says he has O’Brien on the mind.

Smart asks for reform suggestions from the Bells.

Katina: Do they actually send someone out to look at the property? The garage wasn’t there. ​“There wasn’t no UFO that took it up” after the assessor stopped by.

7:59: Smart calls the next sign-up up. Camille Ainsley(?) (at right in photo), in a pea-green sweater and a gray scarf, sits.

Camille: I bought a car Sept 22, 2009. I get bills for 2007, 2008, 2009 for a car that I just bought. I sold the car. They towed my car (?) Eventually I find out there’s an issue from 2002, when I didn’t even live in Connecticut. What annoys me most is ​“the nastiness.” Now I’m in fear that my car is going to be towed again. I got two more bills today. (!) I’m charged again $625. ​“I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted. Everyday I come home and there’s another bill and it’s a wrong bill.” ​“I don’t know what to do.” I don’t have any documents from 2002. ​“It’s amazing. I’m baffled.”

Goldson: How many cars are we talking about?

Camille: Four. First, 2002. A company leased that car for me. They returned it and got the plates. I paid taxes in another town for the car, years later, the same years that the city is asking for.

Goldson is trying to get the basic facts on this, but it’s confusing. Something about a Nissan with Mitsubishi plates?

Next, Camille’s present car. It’s a Toyota. She says she paid the taxes and has since gotten another bill for it.

8:09: Smart calls up tax collector Maureen Villani (at left in photo above).

Smart: She just paid this bill for 2009. Then she says she got this bill for 2007 and 2008.

Goldson: ​“This is one of those famous O’Brien three-year deals.”

Villani: This appears to be an add-on bill.

Camille: ​“How can it be add-on if you don’t own the vehicle?”

Villani: It means it’s discovered by the assessor’s office.

Camille: But is it a coincidence that they did the same thing to this car?

Goldson: Another car?

Camille: A Dodge van that we had for nine months. … We tried to pay it and they won’t take a payment.

Villani: State statute says you have to deal with the oldest debt first.

Goldson: The 2002 bill.

Camille: There should be an exception. ​“That’s almost racketeering!” ​“You add this up, it comes out to $1,200.”

8:16: Smart: We’re going to make copies of everything and figure out what’s going on.

Michael Reyes is next. Smart says he hasn’t seen him in years. He lives in East Haven on Timberland Drive. His wife Nancy is with him.

Michael: Last year I traded in my 99 Saab for an ​‘06 Saab. There was a delay with the registration sticker. I was told there was a problem with the vehicle. The dealer called me in and gave me a DMV check for $95. DMV told me I owe taxes in New Haven for an 06 Nissan Frontier. I’ve never lived in New Haven. I cleared that up, then they told me I owe taxes on a 1995 Mazda Protege. The car was totaled in 1996. The car was picked up at my buddy’s auto shop. Insurance took care of it. I went back to the assessor. I told them I needed to register the car. A guy, Mike, with an English accent, was really nice. The boss came out, cut him off and said there was nothing they could do. ​“He just got nasty.” I’m a youth pastor. I was with a young kid ​“so I couldn’t flip the switch in front of him.” I left. I spoke with everyone at motor vehicles. I went back to assessor’s office. I spoke with Mike, made sure the other guy wasn’t there. He helped me out. He told me to go to the dealership where I got the Mazda and find some information. I did that. The dealer gave me some information. I have a letter from Mazda American Credit. Carfax says the car was totaled, but also says that it was later sold at auction and is now in Massachusetts. That cleared up a matter of $1800. But first I needed to get a cancellation of the plates. I went to DMV, got a cancellation of the plates. ​“I’m excited now, I’m pumped up.” I went across to the tax office. ​“Then they came up with this one: The same car! More money than this!” $1900, up from nearly $1800! ​“I said, ​‘Man, I only had the car for five months.’” I asked why am I being charged for this? He explained it to me and ​“it sounded like Einstein numbers and waves.” So I’ve been driving for a year with no registration, praying that I don’t get pulled over. ​“I just want to register my car.” … The tax bill is $552.09 with over $1,374.70 in interest.

Goldson: $500 seems high for five months.

Robinson-Thorpe: Are these two bills for the same car?

Michael: Yes. They determined that I didn’t own the car during the time of the first bill, so they got rid of that one. But then the other bill was for when I did own it.

Rodriguez: A used car?

Michael: Yes. It had about 11,000 miles on it.

Rodriguez: So it could have been $550.

Blango: ​“Pastor, how much are you willing to pay?”

Michael: ​“If you leave it up to me, I’ll be too good to myself.”

Blango: ​“It is better to give than to receive.”

Michael: ​“I’ll pay this off little by little, as long as I can register my car.”

Perez: We could work this onto the next agenda of the Board of Aldermen as a Unanimous Consent item. We can forgive the interest.

Blango: ​“Amen.”

Perez and Blango discuss what they have the evidence to do.

8:38: Comptroller Mark Pietrosimone (at left in photo) approaches. Jackson-Brooks advises the pastor to pray.

Pietrosimone and Reyes talk it over. Pietrosimone says the records will need to be consulted.

Perez: What can we do to help him? Let’s assume the $552 is correct. Can we forgive the interest?

Blango (quietly): ​“Can’t we say it was a scrivener’s error?”

Blango: Pietrosimone promises to look into the matter tomorrow.

Rodriguez: ​“We’ve got some divine intervention tonight!”

Jackson-Brooks: ​“That’s why I’ve been praying!”

Reyes: ​“God bless you folks.”

Reyes walks away into a hug from Peitrosimone. Apparently they know each other from way back.

8:45: That’s it for public testimony. On to voting.

Item 1: Passes unanimously. No discussion.

Item 2: Passed over. They didn’t show.

Item 3: Passes unanimously. No discussion.

Item 4: Leave to withdraw.

Items 5 and 6: Passed over.

8:45: And that’s it for voting. On to the reform recommendations.

Smart: ​“I have no confidence in this assessor’s office. I don’t see any changes. I don’t even know if anyone’s here from the assessor’s office.”

Legislative staff passes out an updated list of recommendations. The first recommendation, at the top of the list, is that O’Brien be removed as assessor.

Smart: We plan to file an ethics complaint around ​“the possible nepotism and conflict of interest” on the appeals board. That’s the only thing that’s not on the list. Thanks, everyone, for coming to all these long hearings.

Antunes: We should have a requirement that when there is an on-site assessment, they should leave a notice at the property. He says he wants to add that as recommendation 9 in the first section.

Blango: Maybe they should have a digital camera so they can take dated pictures, as proof, to go with the documentation. Also, on O’Brien being removed, is he on a contract?

8:54: Smart asks Pat Wallace (pictured), from elderly services, to approach.

Smart: We’ve seen a lot of seniors who need assistance. How can we do better to help them?

Wallace: First, enclose the senior tax freeze program brochure that goes out with the July tax bill with the January bill. A lot of people didn’t know about it until it was too late to apply. The brochure came after the deadline for applying. Make it easy for people so they don’t have to call me and then call the assessor’s office. That’s the most basic thing. … ​“We’ll do anything we can do to help people if we know that they need help. … Having someway of tracking people who are in trouble by age would be a really good thing.” People’s ages are in the voting list. Corp counsel would have to say if we can use that data. … I think it would be great if we could talk to the different outreach staffs at LCI and other departments, and go door to door and give people information. ​“I think there are a lot of people that just don’t get the word from the city.”

Smart reads the recommendations that touch on elderly services, including the recommendation that an elderly services staffer attend all Tax Abatement Committee meetings.

Wallace: ​“From this point on, I will be here.”

Smart: Suppose a senior forgets to apply for the tax freeze?

Wallace: That has happened, and I’m not sure that it’s only dementia. Extreme physical illness can also prevent or distract people from applying.

Antunes: Maybe there should be a second contact listed for each senior, a child, maybe.

Wallace: I think that’s an excellent idea, especially for people with dementia.

9:09: Goldson: We have plenty of folks come up here that are only just finding out about the freeze. Can we go back three years retroactively and freeze the taxes? The assessor does it all the time, except to charge taxes.

Staff: It depends how the ordinance is written.

Goldson: I would like to put that into the recommendations.

No further questions for Wallace.

9:12: Rodriguez, who says he’s not a member and has to leave, says he wants to acknowledge all the good work the committee has done under Chairman Smart.

9:13: Antunes offers another recommendation: I’d like to add a requirement that the appeals board have a schedule that’s more appropriate and gives people more of an opportunity to appeal.

Perez: That might be dictated by state statute, in which case we could ask the state delegation to change the rules.

Jackson-Brooks: We’ve got several like that, which we could put together for the state delegation.

9:17: Goldson: I’d like to add two more things: A definition of residency as it relates to city employees. Residency is not defined in the ordinances, although it is required.

Perez: There is a small group of us working on that. We’re waiting from an opinion from an attorney.

Goldson: It’s clearly something we’ve been concerned about. We have to define what residency is for us.

Goldfield: The attorney is unlikely to give us a bright-line opinion. ​“It’s not really defined in the state and it’s a very difficult concept.” We could state what we want in our charter reform process. But there’s constitutional issues with requiring people to do certain things.

Goldson: But we already require it.

Perez: That same attorney said courts have to use some test to determine residence. There is some court history that can be used as a guide.

Goldson: My next addition is something concerning me since the beginning of this process. We don’t know how the assessor is making decisions. We get regular lists of items that we are asked to refund. It doesn’t say why they have changed. I would like to see a better explanation. We’re not being told what mistakes are made. ​“We’ll have 20 refunds and no clear explanation as to why we are making these refunds.” [At regular Board of Aldermen meetings, the ​“order de tax refunds” is a standard unanimous vote with no discussion.]

9:23: Perez: Several items here have a potential financial impact. We’re going to be required to figure out that financial impact. Let’s get that. Item number 3 is one: readjusting assessments from 2009 to 2008 levels. Number 5… We need to go through the list and figure it out.

Goldfield: Are these items sent forward for further consideration? To be sent to other committees? [Yes, he’s told.] Then someone will tell us what the cost is.

Goldson: So what is the process? We’re putting together a wish-list of things we want to take a look at? [Right, he’s told.] Then we’ll go down the list one by one and decide where to send it?

Smart: The plan is to refer these to the president and he’ll send them to the appropriate committees.

Blango: I would love a recommendation that it go to the committee-as-a-whole [the full Board of Aldermen].

Smart: You have to talk to the president.

Goldfield: We have to look at which of these should be considered by the committee as a whole. Some things needs changes from the state and aren’t yet for the board.

Smart calls Granoff up, the chair of the appeals board.

Granoff: My concern here is that the appeals board is not part of the city of New Haven, we’re regulated by state statute. It would probably be best to contact our local delegation in Hartford to make any changes. One thing is, do you have an issue with the appeals process in general? It’s worked in many towns for over 300 years. Or is it the people who have been running it? Because we have new people. ​“Our job is to be a consumer advocate. … That’s why we were set up specifically to be separate from the town.”

Smart: We’ll clean this list up and figure out what’s state statute and what’s not.

Goldson: I’m sure you are doing a good job, but the fact is this is not the first time we’ve had problems with the board. Years ago, members were reducing their own assessments.

Granoff: ​“And I came in and took that person’s place.” … It’s not the process that’s the problem, it’s the individuals.

Goldson: The process needs checks and balances so that it can’t be abused. ​“We don’t want you to come back here in six years and clean up someone else’s mess.”

Jackson-Brooks: Do you have any suggestions?

Granoff: ​“I think the checks and balances are the responses you get from your constituents.”

Smart: I have a problem with the appeals board meeting in the assessor’s office.

Granoff: That’s where the information and records are available. We don’t work there at the same time as them.

Smart: ​“Yeah but it’s the appearance.”

Granoff: It’s the accessibility of the records.

Goldson: That works well only when there’s a strong chairman who’s independent from the assessor’s office.

Granoff: … I think it works very well [the process]. The hardest thing is getting information out there.

9:39: Smart: We’re going to clean this up and vote on it on the 29th.

Goldson and Granoff discuss no-shows to the appeals board, like Alderman Morehead, who Goldson says said he didn’t get a notice. Morehead was on the appeals board agenda at its most recent meeting.

Granoff and Antunes discover they used to be neighbors.

9:42: Dildine steps up with a couple questions. He says he’s concerned about taxpayer liability for city errors. The gist is that assessment errors get compounded to the level of eviction. ​“It can literally lead to a foreclosure.” Even if fixed, the fix can cross in the mail or be lost. Another problem: current payment is applied to the oldest tax bill, even if the oldest is an error. Finally, we need to address the attitude of the office.

9:46: Meeting adjourned.