West Tisbury Selectmen Defend Principal Assessor on Spending

By IAN FEIN

West Tisbury selectmen this week criticized a story in last
Friday's Gazette about costly travel expenses submitted by the
town principal assessor.

Among other things, the story reported that principal assessor
Jo-Ann Resendes stayed in luxury Boston hotels at a cost of more than
$250 per night throughout the first seven weeks of the ongoing tax
hearing at the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board.

"I feel that it's extremely stressful on the principal
assessor. She's being taken to task and a lot of things are being
put on her shoulders that she's not responsible for," said
selectmen chairman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, who raised the issue during
the board's regular meeting on Wednesday. "She's an
employee of the town and she's only doing the job she's told
to do. Whether it's a luxury hotel or not I don't know, and
whatever expenses I don't care. They're being approved by
the board of assessors."

Although he acknowledged the factual accuracy of the story, Mr.
Manter said he believed it unfairly singled out Ms. Resendes. The
elected town assessors approved all of her expenses, Mr. Manter said,
and any questions or concerns should be directed at them.

"I support whatever they're doing and how they're
doing it," Mr. Manter continued. "I mean I don't like
this better than anybody else and the amount of money it's costing
the town. However it's there and they're dealing with it.
And the principal assessor has been singled out unfairly in this
instance and other instances as being responsible for it. She's
only an employee and not an employer."

Selectman John Early agreed with Mr. Manter, and also criticized the
story for lacking a benchmark number of the average cost of a hotel in
Boston during this time of the year.

"I think it was conspicuously missing from the article, and I
think the article was flawed because of that," Mr. Early said.

Current data compiled by a third party consultant and presented by
the Massachusetts Lodging Association this week listed the average hotel
cost in Boston at $160 per night.

The four hotels Ms. Resendes stayed in at taxpayer expense
throughout the first seven weeks of the hearing ranged in price from
$255 to $366 per night. The hotel expenses Ms. Resendes submitted to the
board of assessors typically cost more than $300 per night, which often
included breakfast and occasionally included dinner.

Selectman Glenn Hearn had a slightly different view.

"I think it's the board of assessors who approved these,
and whatever rules they make with their employee we don't know.
Maybe we should come up with a town policy," Mr. Hearn said.
"We talked about a town policy for legal services last week. Maybe
we should have a policy for travel expenses."

The other two selectmen did not respond.

But discussion about the ongoing tax hearing and the
assessors' expenses resurfaced later in the meeting, when longtime
Seven Gates resident Joan Ames spoke up during the public comment period
and defended the merits of the story.

"I really disagree with what you said Skipper. I feel grateful
to the Gazette for covering this story," Ms. Ames said. "If
I were a town employee, even if I was budgeted a certain amount, I would
try to do everything I could not to spend the taxpayers'
money," she continued.

"I think that's a question of sound policy by town
employees. Just because you're handed a blank check isn't a
reason to spend it all," Ms. Ames said.

"Who mentioned a blank check?" Mr. Manter asked.

"I just did," Ms. Ames replied. "A certain amount
may have been approved for her by the board, but that doesn't mean
she had to spend all that. I just feel like this is out of
control."

The selectmen explained that they had no control over the
assessors' expenses. "They're a separate elected
board," Mr. Manter said.

Ms. Ames was unappeased.

"I'm hearing so much disgruntlement in fellow town
citizens," she told the selectmen. "I film for MVTV up in
Aquinnah, where they've been working for the last year to really
cut back and save money . . . and I feel like I'm living in a town
that is spending wildly. As a taxpayer I find it very upsetting."

Ms. Ames also cited a letter to the editor in last Friday's
Gazette by Ellen and Dr. Timothy Guiney, who said they plan to move to
Chilmark, "where spending is kept under control, and where the
process of property taxation is more transparent."

Mr. Manter interrupted Ms. Ames. "Property's cheaper in
Chilmark?" he asked.

"Apparently it is because they don't use Vision up
there," Ms. Ames replied, referring to Vision Appraisal Technology
Inc., the Northboro company that assisted West Tisbury with its tax
revaluation and is sitting on the sidelines during the ongoing tax
hearing in Boston.

West Tisbury resident William W. Graham, who owns 235 acres at Mohu
off Lambert's Cove Road, is challenging the assessors'
methods for determining land values and property taxes in the case,
which is now the subject of growing discussion in town.

Ms. Ames told selectmen on Wednesday that she too has concerns about
her assessments and property taxes.

"My home is modest. It's 1,800 square feet," she
said. "But every year in taxes I'm paying a quarter of what
it cost me to build my home. And that's really
disheartening."

Ms. Ames recounted a visit she had with Ms. Resendes in her town
hall office several years ago when she told her about the wetlands and
conservation restriction she has on her property.

"I thought maybe there was some misunderstanding," Ms.
Ames said. "She explained to me, ‘Forget it' "

Selectmen again tried direct Ms. Ames to the board of assessors with
her concerns. Again Ms. Ames refused.

"I just want to tell you this," she said. "We went
over my sheet and there was a step outside my shed about three feet by
18 inches. Well, that the assessors had chose to call a deck, and it
cost me $500. And at the time I was deeply disturbed, and she changed it
for me.

"But I look back on that now as I am reading about
what's going on here," she said. "I gather some of us
who live on the water in West Tisbury have been referred to as cash
cows. Am I right John?" she asked Mr. Early.

"That's correct," he replied.

Called as a witness during the first day of the tax hearing, Mr.
Early testified that in an interview with the Gazette last year he
referred to some property owners in West Tisbury, including Mr. Graham,
as cash cows.

"You used that phrase about me and I'm a
neighbor," Ms. Ames said.

"I used it about myself too," replied Mr. Early, who
also lives in Seven Gates.

"I feel like something is amiss, I'm deeply disturbed
and angered, and I'm coming to you for help," Ms. Ames told
the selectmen. "You're sending me to the assessors, but as
selectmen of this town surely you have some responsibility to help save
us citizens from these feelings of anxiety about losing our property and
being treated unfairly," she said.

Mr. Hearn suggested that Ms. Ames, aside from meeting with the board
of assessors, could attend the yet-to-be-scheduled special town meeting
when voters will decide whether to approve legal bills for the tax board
hearing that went over the town's budgeted amount last year.

"I'm sure a lot of people are going to have a lot of
issues to discuss," Mr. Hearn said.

Ms. Ames had one more question for the selectmen: Could they look to
see if there are cheaper hotels for Ms. Resendes to stay in?

"We don't have the answers to your questions," Mr.
Manter replied. "We don't know why they stayed where they
did."