Barrington Town Council Addresses Tax Assessment Concerns

BARRINGTON, RI — With the deadline for appealing tax assessments at the end of the month, the Barrington Town Council has released a statement about what it calls "a great deal of discussion and a certain amount of confusion" about assessment changes applied to assessed rates of some town properties. The Town Council said in the statement that the changes were based on properties being sold either above or below assessed value during 2018, and that the Town Council has no power to change those assessments.

"State law delegates that power only to tax assessors," the statement said, "and delegates review of assessments to assessments boards of review that are appointed by town and city councils. That is an obvious and sensible means of separating assessments from politics."

The Town Council said assessments for about 250 properties increased because they were sold for prices higher than their assessed value — indicating the properties had previously been under-assessed. The variances ranged from $500 to $574,000. About 100 properties were sold for less than the assessed value and they were decreased. Those variances were between $500 and $328,000. Eight properties were sold for almost identical to their assessed value.

"None of these variances between sales prices and prior assessments resulted in the town collecting more or less tax revenue at any time," the statement said. "The town bills and collects only as much tax revenue as the voters decide to levy at the Financial Town Meeting. That total approved tax is then divided between taxpayers proportionately based upon the assessed value of their properties. The stated reason the tax assessor reassessed properties based on real estate sales was to correct over-assessments and under-assessments so that they more accurately reflect the actual value of the properties."

Anyone with questions ahead of the appeals deadline on Dec. 30 should contact the Barrington Tax Assessor's Office at 401-247-1900.