Her office has been fielding lots of questions after the average 45% increase in valuations

Town Tax Assessor Chelsea Romano briefed the Town Council Monday on the new property revaluations and acknowledged after the meeting it might have been a good idea to make the presentation before new property valuation letters went out. 

That’s because she’s gotten a lot of phone calls from worried residents over the big increase in valuations. In addition, the number of requests for immediate informal hearings was so great they ended up adding extra days, with the last of the hearings scheduled for March 21. 

At the meeting Monday night, Romano noted this was the first so-called full revaluation in nine years. State law dictates what’s known as a statistical reval every three years and a full reval every nine. For the full reval, New England Revaluation was hired to canvas the entire town, looking to gain entry and see the inside of the structure. 

Resident Bruce LeBlanc of Red Oak Road attended the Town Council meeting and said no one ever came to his house. Romano said the company had gone door-to-door. If someone wasn’t open, they left a sticky note with their contact info on the door. But a NE Reval representative said the sticky notes can fall off. He said they don’t use something with stronger stick in case the residents were away – an unclaimed note could tip off people that no one was home, he said. 

LeBlanc said his house had increased in value way too much. According to the records, the house had been valued at $357,000 in 2020; the new assessment was $521,000, a 45.9 percent increase. It turns out, that’s just above the average valuation increase of 45 percent. Romano said on Wednesday NE Reval had been out to the LeBlanc house earlier that day. 

Romano told the Town Council that residential values were up across the board, with no one neighborhood markedly above others. But, she added, manufactured homes (aka mobile homes) saw a particularly large increase averaging 70 percent higher than in 2020.

“Manufactured house assessments really went up,” she said, citing one that went from $59K in 2020 to $111K in 2023. Those residences are becoming more popular as starter or retirement homes because of their relative affordability and the tight housing market.

Romano said commercial buildings in general saw smaller increases in valuation, except for mixed use building, apartment buildings and self-storage facilities.

On Wednesday, Romano said Narragansett and Barrington are also undergoing full revaluations this year. East Greenwich was farther along, she said, noting that residents in those communities did not yet have their new valuations.

She said most owners who have called just wanted to understand the process a little better. Some worried the new assessment would mean a much higher property tax bill. But tax bills are based on the tax rate set when next fiscal year’s budget is approved. That won’t happen until June (though a draft budget out by May 1 will give owners some idea of what the eventual rate will be). If your property has increased by 45 percent (the average residential valuation increase this year), then your bill will probably go up roughly by whatever amount the Town Council approves (4 percent or less). If your percent increase is higher than 45 percent, your tax bill will go up more, potentially a lot more. Conversely, if your percent increase falls below 45 percent, your tax bill could even be lower than this year’s bill.

Those who asked for an informal hearing will get another letter from the town in coming weeks, listing their valuation, which may or may not have changed. If a property owner is still unhappy with their assessment, formal appeals will take place in September. 

Read our previous coverage HERE.