Municipal Law Department Wins Appellate Tax Board Appeal, Preserving Property Tax Revenues For Town

Principal Attorney Rich Hucksam of the Municipal Law Department has won an appeal at the Appellate Tax Board concerning the valuation of a 35-lot residential subdivision in the Town of Carlisle.  The property owner claimed that the property should be valued as a bulk inventory of lots to be sold to a single purchaser and that the costs to construct the subdivision roadway and utilities should be deducted from the value of the property.  The Town’s Board of Assessors argued that the highest and best use of the subdivided property was as individual retail building lots for sale to multiple purchasers with no deduction for development costs.  The Appellate Tax Board’s decision in favor of the Board of Assessors preserves thousands of dollars of tax income for the Town and is an important precedent for the valuation of other residential subdivisions.