UPDATE: Town of Framingham Wins Tax Assessing Lawsuit Filed By Town Meeting Member Butler

Originally posted on Tuesday, Feb. 16. Updated for the Wednesday newsletter.

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A judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Town of Framingham, the town’s chief assessor, and the Framingham Board of Assessors challenging the Town’s Fiscal Year 2012 tax assessment due to a lack of standing, said Framingham Town Counsel Chris Petrini.

The lawsuit was filed by Town Meeting member Deborah Butler, who is also a candidate for one of two seats on the Framingham Board of Selectmen. The election is March 29.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Bruce Henry dismissed the case with prejudice.

The judge’s ruling said Butler’s case had no standing, as she is not a taxpayer in the Town of Framingham.

Butler lives with her parents.

The Judge said Butler ”can not show” how she was personally injured by the town’s assessing practices.

Judge Henry wrote “She does not own real estate in the town and pays no property taxes to the town. Her claims as an heir to her parents are speculative at best.”

This is the second lawsuit filed by Butler against the Town of Framingham, in recent years that the courts have dismissed due to a lack of standing, said Petrini.

Butler had filed a lawsuit against the Town of Framingham in regards to the Danforth Green development in Saxonville, unhappy about the combination of rental and sale units.

Petrini won the case for the Town of Framingham as Butler appealed it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It is another example of the type of lack of meritorious claims that Ms. Butler has filed against the Town that the courts and administrative agencies have rejected,” said Petrini.

Framingham Patch emailed Butler for a response to the judge’s ruling on Tuesday night. She did not response as of 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Butler in her lawsuit said Framingham’s residents were being over taxed due to the processes used by the town’s assessors. She wanted to change the way the department assessed commercial properties to give residents a tax break.

Framingham Town Manager Bob Halpin told Framingham Patch Tuesday night this was a win for the Town of Framingham and a “total win” for Petrini.

Halpin said “this was a frivolous lawsuit that ignored that fact that the Town of Framingham uses the Massachusetts Department of Revenue processes to determine tax values.”

He said the state requires two methods of appraisal be done on each property, and it is a process that is done across all 351 cities and town in the Commonwealth. Halpin said the Town follows the state’s method to appraise properties in town.