Appraisals in village still not finished

By Dave Fidlin

Correspondent

Slightly more than half of the Village of Waterford’s housing stock was comprehensively inspected during the much-maligned re-evaluation process this year, municipal officials announced this week.

Associated Appraisal, the firm contracted to inspect the exterior and interior of homes, reviewed all exterior properties, but company staffers managed to go through only 56 percent of the homes.

Village Treasurer Lori Peternell and Village Administrator Rebecca Ewald discussed the state of the re-evaluation process and the impact it had on 2015 tax bills at a Village Board meeting Dec. 14.

Overall, Peternell said the results from the re-evaluation resulted in a 3.6 percent reduction in assessed value throughout the village. The scenario, in turn, caused for the village’s mill rate to increase.

The most recent set of details prompted the Village Board to express continued frustration in the entire re-evaluation process.

Early in the fall, Mark Brown, executive director of project management with Associated Appraisal, was placed in the hot seat when he announced the company would not be able to complete its services by the initially prescribed date of Sept. 30. A deadline extension to Oct. 16 was subsequently set.

But the revelation the interior of 720 homes, or 44 percent of the village’s housing stock, were not inspected by Associated Appraisal resulted in a chorus of new complaints from elected officials.

Brown is scheduled to appear before the board Monday, Jan. 11, and discuss what transpired during the tail-end of the re-evaluation process.

“I’ve never seen anything so screwed up in all my life,” said Trustee Jerry Filut, who was among the board members expressing frustration of fielding complaints and concerns from residents about the manner in which the re-evaluation occurred.

Trustee Tom Christensen echoed similar sentiments. Referring to the recent arrival of tax bills in the mail, Christensen said, “I was ripped all weekend by my neighbors because of this.”

Christensen further stated, “I think the only thing (Associated Appraisal) knows how to do right is send us a bill.”

While no definitive decisions have been made, board members are questioning how much the village should compensate Associated Appraisal for its services.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve been paying for a service that hasn’t been rendered,” Village President Tom Roanhouse said.

For the time being, the board has halted payments to the company, including a $3,995 invoice that was included in the most recent round of bills that were due for review and approval at the board’s Dec. 14 meeting.

When he came before the board in mid-September, Brown defended the company’s action and asserted great care has been put into the entire process.

“We are trying to be empathetic to residents because we know this is a sensitive process,” Brown said at the time. “All along, we’ve wanted this process to go as smoothly as possible.”