Appraisal Company President Sends Out Missive on Tax Case

By IAN FEIN

The head of Vision Appraisal Technology Inc. has stepped into the
fray surrounding the Graham property tax case against West Tisbury
assessors.

Defending his Northboro company, Vision Appraisal president Kevin
Comer sent to clients across the commonwealth last week a letter that
criticized press coverage of the case and comments attributed to West
Tisbury resident William W. Graham and his attorney.

Heard last summer by the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board in
Boston, the Graham case challenged aspects of the Vision valuation
system as it is used in West Tisbury. Still pending with a decision not
expected for months, it stands now as the longest residential property
tax appeal in the history of the state.

Mr. Comer in his letter said he believes the case has been blown out
of proportion.

\"This case, despite all the attention it has received, is
really no different than other cases our company has been involved in
over many years,\" Mr. Comer wrote.

\"In our opinion, this case involves an owner who simply does
not like his value,\" he added. \"Whether or not he has a
plausible argument, he has the means to continue contesting the case and
the influence to draw press coverage.\"

Mr. Comer said this week that he authored the two-page letter in
response to a Jan. 8 Cape Cod Times article, which discussed the Graham
case and its potential implications off-Island.

The letter does not mention the extensive Chappaquiddick abatement
situation in Edgartown, which was also discussed in the Cape Cod Times
article and where Mr. Comer has acknowledged mistakes.

The complete text of the letter appears on the Commentary Page in
today\'s Gazette.

Vision Appraisal assists assessors across New England with
state-mandated property revaluations. The company represents more than
50 towns and cities in Massachusetts, including every town on the
Vineyard except Chilmark.

Mr. Comer in his letter urged clients not to pass judgment on the
Graham case until a tax board decision is rendered. At times he was
pointed in his criticism of the press coverage.

\"The press involvement here is actually very interesting
because it is an attempt to influence public opinion without having to
provide any real details of the case,\" Mr. Comer wrote. \"In
effect, the press is exerting its influence in order to put the
assessing industry on trial.\"

Mr. Comer in the letter and again this week said he believes the
Graham case is not about methodology, but rather a waterfront landowner
who is unhappy with his values. Mr. Graham, who owns 235 acres at Mohu
off Lambert\'s Cove Road, is challenging his $50 million
assessments from fiscal years 2003 and 2004, when he paid the town more
than a half-million dollars in property taxes.

In the letter Mr. Comer listed what he saw as some of the important
facts from the case. He also wrote that Mr. Graham\'s case
\"makes no mention of sales data or market activity which, to say
the least, is very unusual in a tax appeal.\"

\"To us this entire case is about how much this property is
worth - period,\" Mr. Comer said this week. \"We
don\'t see this as any different.\"

Mr. Graham this week rebutted some of Mr. Comer\'s assertions.
\"The letter is fundamentally misleading because [Mr. Comer]
chooses to ignore that my case is primarily a claim of disproportionate
assessment,\" Mr. Graham said. \"The value of my lots by
themselves isn\'t the key - the key is the value of my lots
as compared to other lots throughout the town.\"

Mr. Graham also made note of at least one factual error in the
letter – which refers to his property on Nantucket Sound, even
though it is on Vineyard Sound. \"It seems to me that the quality
of Vision\'s work is amply illustrated by the fact that [Mr. Comer]
doesn\'t even know where my property is,\" Mr. Graham said.

Mr. Comer\'s comments also contradict a previous statement by
West Tisbury board of assessors chairman Michael Colaneri. In his only
public comments about the case, Mr. Colaneri at a November special town
meeting described the Graham appeal as a first-of-its kind case that
challenged how assessors conduct their townwide revaluations.

Other assessors in the state have also described the Graham case as
unique, and acknowledged that it could have repercussions elsewhere.

Sandwich assessor Edward Childs, the new president of the
Massachusetts Association of Assessing Officers (MAAO), said this week
that Cape and south shore communities, as well as MAAO executives and
committees, have been following the case.

Mr. Childs said that although the Graham appeal was not a part of
the official agenda at the association\'s winter conference last
weekend, it was a topic during private discussions. He said there is
much speculation about the case, and some assessors are anxiously
awaiting a tax board decision.

The town of Sandwich does not use Vision Appraisal or its company
software for the townwide revaluations, but Mr. Childs said that he
would not avoid hiring the company solely because of the Graham case. He
said that it is the data entered into the software by the assessors that
ultimately determines values and their equitability, not the software
itself.

Attorney Richard Wulsin, who is representing Mr. Graham and is
criticized in Mr. Comer\'s letter for previous comments about the
case, agreed with Mr. Childs.

\"My view is that the Vision software is neither better nor
worse than most of the mass appraisal software out there,\" Mr.
Wulsin said. \"The problem is how it was used by the West Tisbury
assessors. What they have done is manipulated the system to come up with
predetermined values - which makes it no longer a valid
system.\"

The Graham case also explored the role played by Vision employees,
alongside town assessors, during the alleged manipulation of the
revaluation process.

The role of Vision employees has also come under scrutiny in
Edgartown, where assessors have expressed disappointment and
dissatisfaction with the company. After Vision officials admitted that
they made a mistake in valuing Chappaquiddick properties last year,
Edgartown assessors granted more than $150 million in abatements and
returned more than $450,000 in collected taxes.

In a sign of contrition to the town, Mr. Comer last spring agreed to
assist the Edgartown assessors with their revaluation of all the
properties on Chappaquiddick this year at no cost to the town. Town
assessors took Vision up on its offer, but have said they will not
rehire the company to determine residential values in the future.

Mr. Comer said this week that he did not mention the Edgartown
situation in his letter to other clients because he believes it is
entirely unrelated to the Graham case. \"That\'s a completely
different situation,\" Mr. Comer said. \"It is unfortunate
that they happened at same time.\"

He also responded to the recent decision by some West Tisbury voters
to withhold payment of past-due legal bills from the Graham case. Vision
will receive only $6,000 from what was originally a $30,000 bill for
attendance and testimony during the tax board hearing last summer.

Mr. Comer said he was disappointed in town voters who did not
support payment, but he reiterated previous statements that he does not
see the company suing the town for the money. Town and state attorneys
have said that the town is under no legal obligation to pay the bills.

Mr. Comer said the company will assist the West Tisbury assessors
with their adjustment of property values this winter - the town
tax bills are late this year, in large part because of time spent by the
assessors on the Graham case - but he said the prospect of future
work between the company and the town remains unclear. Vision has
assisted West Tisbury assessors for roughly 20 years.

\"I will certainly be a lot more cautious before I do business
with the town again,\" Mr. Comer said.