In the midst of declining property values, how realistic is it to use sales prices over the last two years to determine assessments?

That's a question many Wiscasset residents have raised since Tyler Technology, Inc. recently finished re-assessing all the land and buildings. The company, hired last year for about $187,000, has come up with assessments for nearly 1,600 houses and 155 parcels of land.

The town's five selectmen, who are also the assessors - and ultimately responsible for the new assessments - responded to a request from a group of Young's Point residents last week to meet with them to discuss the new valuations.

The selectmen scheduled an "assessing workshop" on Monday, September 24 in the firehouse meeting room. About 50 people crowded into the room - many from the Young's Point Road, but others from different parts of town, who wanted to know more about how the new values were derived.

Several residents raised concern not only about the advisability of using declining sales prices over the last two years, but also the general slowing of real estate sales this year.

Longtime real estate businessman, Roy Farmer said there are now 117 properties on the market included in the Multiple Listing Service. This does not include properties for sale by owners. Farmer said he doesn't remember another time in the town's history when so many properties were for sale.

Goud made good on his pledge, agreeing to meet on Wednesday, September 26 to start the review process. The selectmen met again after the October 2 selectmen's meeting.

One of the main issues raised by several speakers at last week's workshop is how accurate the values can be, if they're based on the last two years of sales. Both the number of real estate sales, and the prices of real estate have been declining in the last two years.

One resident, Alice Ellsworth, who lives on Youngs Point Road, said she couldn't understand how Tyler could value her property for $558,000, when she has been trying to sell it for three years at a price far below that.

Ellsworth said she made an appointment with Tyler, showing them a purchase and sales agreement she had (the sale did not close because of financing) from two years ago for $395,000. She said at the peak of the real estate market, sometime in 2005, she had an offer for $300,000, which she did not accept. She said Tyler was not willing to change their assessment.

"So if anyone wants to buy my house tonight for $558,000, I'll sell it," she said. Town manager Arthur Faucher expressed surprise that the company was unwilling to do anything.

Roy Farmer questioned the values Tyler put on the land compared to the values put on houses.

"I think Tyler is very, very, high on the land, and low on the houses." He used his house on Middle Street as an example.

"They put the value of my house at $105,000, which is too low, and the lot at $112,000 - that's ridiculous," he said. "Who would think you could get $112,000 for a tiny little lot on Middle Street?"

Noting that the combined assessment of $105,000 and $112,000 totals $217,000, Farmer said, "I'm sure I could get $275,000 for my house."

"I've looked at other lots in town - there's one on Hooper Street valued at $90,000 - there's nothing to justify it. I also looked at six lots that sold on the Youngs Point Road in the last 15 months - every one is valued by Tyler for more than they sold for. Tyler valued them about 11.5 percent more than they sold for - those sales values were available to them. I would have expected them to value the land at 10 percent lower than the sales price."

"My suggestion would be to lower the land values by 20 percent and increase the house values by 30 percent - it would be much fairer."

"I think you should accept Roy's suggestion," Ellsworth said. "We should have hired him to do the work."

One of the Young's Point residents who made a presentation during the workshop said he knew of two adjustments Tyler had made on Young's Point properties, including one reduction from $441,000 to $346,000 and another lowered to $430,000 from $525,000.

Goud said Tyler representatives had explained that the closer the Youngs Point parcels are to the end of the point, the more they sell for. He mentioned one sales price of $700,000, but one resident said that sale was in 2003 and should not be included.

Two houses that are alike, but in different locations, should be valued the same, Goud said. Any difference in the valuations would be accounted for by the value of the land, he said.

Sharon Nichols, a Youngs Point resident and wife of selectman David Nichols, said Tyler "has made some subjective judgments that don't reflect current market value." She said she asked Tyler for two and a half weeks to explain how they came up with the 350 percent factoring for Youngs Point. "They couldn't explain it," she said.

"They used a Ouija board," Joe Carter said.

Youngs Point resident Greg Shea said Tyler valued properties on one side of the road more than the other side. He questioned why Tyler decided to "factor" values for Youngs Point and why land on Youngs Point, which is tidal, was valued for more than land with deepwater.

"No one would ever suggest that tidal land is worth more than deepwater," he said. "I voted for this," he said, referring to a new valuation process for the town. "We've spent a lot of money, and it's really not fair and equitable."

Resident Steve Mehrl, who has spent a great deal of time reviewing the Tyler assessments, said the inequities are not limited to Youngs Point.

"There are other areas of town where you need to adjust the mechanics. Don't throw the whole thing out - work with it for six months," he said. "We've got to live with this for the next 10 years."

Federal Street resident George Green complained that assessments on one side of the street are much higher than on the other.

"Their idea of tidal waterfront, where we look out at the sewage treatment plant, is a joke," Green said. "Thank God I only have one third of an acre. This is not Watch Hill, Rhode Island."

Mehrl said he had noticed some inequities on the "waterfront" side of Federal Street. The half-acre of land where the well-known brick Octagon House sits was valued at $264,000, he said. But the property next to it, which is 2.1 acres, was only valued at $290,000.

"There's the same slope, the same mud, the same railroad tracks, the same treatment plant," Mehrl said.

Former selectman Bill Barnes said he met with Tyler because he thought his assessments were too high, "but instead of mine going down, it went the other way." Barnes said many residents have told him the answer they got from Tyler when they questioned there assessments was "That's the way it's got to be" or "We'll get back to you," but they never did.

"A lot of people in town are really upset about this," Barnes said. He suggested the selectmen/assessors accept the valuations, send out the tax bills, then start having abatement hearings.

"I hope we can make these adjustments before the next tax bill comes out," Goud said.

Once the tax bills are sent, residents will have 90 days to appeal their assessments.

Referring to the $500 a day charge Tyler will receive for additional work, former selectman and road commissioner Bob Blagden said, "I hope we don't pay these people $500 a day to fix their mistakes."