While the average payment in West Tisbury would have increased around eight per cent on each bill if spread across all four quarters, residents had to contend with the entire year’s increase in just the final bill.
Property values increased this year on Martha’s Vineyard, topping $20 billion in total assessed value, according to figures from the six towns and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.
A high-priced real estate market coupled with changes in the way property assessments are calculated has fueled a sharp rise in the value of waterview and waterfront property in Edgartown this year.
A property tax revolt is quietly brewing on Chappaquiddick, where a large group of landowners have banded together and hired an attorney to challenge their latest property assessments.
West Tisbury Expert Takes the Stand in Protracted Graham Tax
Hearing; Values Property at $64.5 Million
By IAN FEIN
An expert real estate appraiser hired by West Tisbury assessors last
year estimated the total value of 235 acres owned by town resident
William W. Graham at $64.5 million, significantly higher than the
town's original assessments.
A growing group of West Tisbury taxpayers, furious at their property tax bills and concerned about how the taxes are computed, received little solace during a stormy two-hour informational meeting with Vision Appraisal Technology on Tuesday evening at the Howes House.
A dozen stunned West Tisbury property owners crowded the normally quiet town assessors meeting this week to question their assessments and tax bills, which have more than doubled this year.
A rising tide lifts all boats, they say. But the old aphorism about the economy apparently does not hold true for Vineyard real estate, as the most recent property valuations show.
