New Assessor Strives For Better Service And Accuracy

In Property Valuations

By John Voket

If you own real property in Newtown, operate a business here that declares personal property, or just own your own car, one of these days you are probably going to cross paths with Thomas DeNoto. In fact, every six months to a year when you ante up for your property taxes you should think of Mr DeNoto; he recently become Newtown’s new assessor.

He took over the post about a month ago, replacing Denise Hames, who left the position, and was welcomed officially by the Board of Selectmen, which confirmed his hiring September 6. Mr DeNoto comes to the Assessor’s Office at a good time, considering his department is integrating new technology and readying for the three-to-four-year process of preparing and executing a townwide revaluation of more than 12,000 real estate parcels.

Mr DeNoto comes to Newtown each day from his hometown of Bristol, where he was born and still resides with his wife and daughters, ages 4 and 8. He brings to the community a wealth of experience gained by working in Manchester where he rose through the ranks from assistant to deputy assessor. He also worked as assistant assessor in Ridgefield, a town demographically similar to Newtown in terms of growth and property issues.

Last week, Mr DeNoto took a break from his work while computer technicians completed a systems upgrade on real estate valuation software in his office. Based on his experience in those communities, he rates the technology capabilities of his new department above average.

“We’re able to do everything we need to do to efficiently,” he said. “Of course when you’re looking at performance related to what you can accomplish with technology, you can always get better.”

One of the ways Mr DeNoto hopes to further improve the scope of customer service in the Assessor’s Office is through the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, which will provide maps with detailed property information such as a blueprint digitally overlaying actual aerial photographs of property parcels.

“This will be another huge piece of the puzzle to making our office even more efficient and user-friendly,” Mr DeNoto said. “These images will help us more clearly identify property lines and site areas for ownership. These GIS maps provide a level of detail and clarity of information like we never had before.”

Mr DeNoto credits town GIS developer Scott Sharlow with getting most of the system in place and functioning. “Scott is the one who really did all the work with this, but it will end up making our office much more customer friendly for property owners and potential property owners,” he said.

Customer service has always been important to Mr DeNoto, especially when most of the encounters he has with residents typically involve their questioning his valuation of a home, vehicle, or other property. And if you want to swap new homeowner horror stories with him, Mr DeNoto can probably relate with plenty of his own — “...been there, done that.”

During the past few years, he has gone through the process of choosing a parcel and building his own family home in Bristol. “Oh yeah, we built from the foundation on up,” he said. “We bought the land, we dealt with all the subcontractors, all the permits, and we met all the inspectors. So I can relate when someone comes in ready to pull out their hair because they feel they’re getting the runaround during this sometimes very complicated process,” Mr DeNoto said.

Finding The Value Of Anything

For that reason, it is important for Mr DeNoto to ensure those coming to his office that they will receive individual consideration if there is a reasonable complaint. It is important for residents and taxpayers to know, however, that he is very proficient in determining the real value of things, from computer systems to exotic cars to huge Caterpillar earth moving equipment.

“Having virtually unlimited access to comparative costs and resale values is one of the biggest advantages I have,” he said. “By being knowledgeable about the Internet, and using it frequently in my work, I’ve learned how to research valuations on anything from buses to manufacturing equipment to real estate. As long as you have some sort of active marketplace with current and active listings you can gauge valuations of virtually anything.”

As the assessor, Mr DeNoto’s office and staff are responsible for the evaluations of property to determine its equitable value for the purpose of levying local taxes, whether the property is real, personal, or vehicle. He does not set the taxation or mill rate, and he does not collect those municipal revenues either, he just measures and sets the values for other town officials to do their jobs.

The Assessor’s Office does provide services directly to many Newtown residents who qualify for certain abatements or other tax reduction programs. Mr DeNoto said his office administers exemption and abatement programs for veterans, the elderly, the disabled, and those actively serving in the military, whether or not they currently reside in Newtown.

“Most of the encounters we have with taxpayers are related to clerical matters,” he said. “And we get a lot of call from realtors clarifying the size of homes. Most of the other people who come to the office are looking for information about certain advantages and tax-exemption programs.”

And it is not just homeowners who are eligible for exemption programs. Mr DeNoto noted that most manufacturers enjoy a tax exemption on personal property in the form of equipment acquired to perform the actual manufacturing process. He said, in some cases, even interstate transportation vehicles like tractor-trailer rigs are exempt from some taxes thanks to state-mandated incentives.

While much of the work is still a couple of years off, Mr DeNoto is beginning to consider some of the many issues related to the town’s next full property revaluation, which is scheduled to begin in 2006.

“This is the regular recurring activity of bringing assessments in line with current market values,” he said. “And no matter where you live, it’s an unavoidable practice.”

According to Mr DeNoto, if the town chooses to go with one of a handful of national revaluation service vendors, he will begin the RFP (request for proposals) process in mid-2005 for all the work and analysis that will be scheduled for 2006. While he said there are only three or four companies servicing municipalities for this service, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the next revaluation might be performed under his management.

“Planning is still in its infancy stages,” he said. “And it’s not likely that the town will perform an in-house revaluation, but I haven’t completely ruled it out. We’ve got more than 12,000 parcels and the next revaluation will provide a full measurement of each parcel including all structures.”

So why do community revaluations have such negative connotations?

“I’m not sure, because it doesn’t mean taxes will inevitably go up,” said Mr DeNoto. “Unfortunately, the analysis of any given market places a burden either on the residential or commercial property owners. And Newtown has a high residential base where new construction especially has appreciated measurably.

“As your property values have increased, your assessment will likely increase proportionately relative to your investment,” he said.

Ultimately, Mr DeNoto hopes taxpayers will come to appreciate his office’s willingness to listen and accommodate their concerns whenever possible.

“We really will bend over backward to try and help everyone understand that everything we do, and all the values we assess, are based on a process used everywhere and applied to almost everyone,” said Mr DeNoto. “When most people come to our office with concerns for the first time, they feel like they are the only person facing a particular issue. But we can show them that we’ve valued an almost identical house, or car, or other item dozens, sometimes hundreds of times before, so they come away understanding that we are not singling them out.”